Finding Hope Again
by Meadow B
Summary: OOTP&HBP SPOILERS. She fell in love with the most unlikely person at the most unlikely time. Now that they are separated, she is depressed and lost. Will she ever find him again, or will old flames and obstacles become too much trouble? DG
1. How It All Began

A/N: Guess I'm starting over again... Italics are flashbacks. Another reminder...**there are OOTP and HBP spoilers!**

Disclaimer: Don't own it.. Oh man J.K...you're amazing!

Finding Hope Again

_Chapter One: How It All Began_

There was nothing left of Ginevra Weasley's world, and she knew that as a fact. Sadness had come and destroyed her only seeds of hope. She felt as though there was only one way out- one way that defied all that she stood for before. No matter how desperate to take a brake from the pain she was in, she could not bring herself to take her own life. Her mother had taught her to stay strong, and as the youngest member of a house full of older brothers, she would stay true to her childhood teachings. However, her childhood was almost too surreal to remember; the laughter, the love, the smiling faces - everything she held sodear to her heart before.

She lived each minute as it happened. Emptiness filled the hollowed cavern in her chest where her loving heart once beat. Nothing mattered to her anymore. The days went by slowly and the cold never ceased. She knew even in warmer weather the cold inside her would never stop growing. She had seen too much death and despair to ever keep the black stain inside her at bay. If only she could bring them back, then maybe her life would have some meaning again.

She sat alone in a cold alley. The ground was hard, but her body was numb, such a numb that took over every single one of her senses. It had been that way for a while, but she was too depressed to notice anymore. Her eyes, once filled with hope and love, stared into the black sky with a blank expression. Beautiful coffee brown eyes with such an emptiness that at a glance no one would have ever known the liveliness and sparkle they once emitted. Her pain could not show, for it was too deep inside of her to be revealed, but she felt it every moment of the day. It grew within her and churned its way through her soul, delving into her more and more every day.

She knew that she was merely one of the many homeless witches and wizards living on the streets of muggle London who would hide in fear forever. She could not cry anymore for she had run out of tears long ago, yet she could still remember the pungent taste of the bitter droplets that once ran down her cheeks in never-ending streams. She still remembered heaving sobs and moaning in despair throughout the cold nights with no one to comfort her. Sometimes she wished that she would cry just one more time, to assure herself that she hadn't completely turned into an empty emotionless shell. She held on to whatever she could find within herself. Sometimes it was a memory, others, it was the smell of the bakery across the street.

She snuggled closer to the large, roomy abandoned box that was now something she could call home, though it could never be anything near to what she had before. She pulled up the crude worn blanket that she found the previous week in a garbage can on the curb of the street. It provided no warmth, to say the least, only a good sturdy home filled with love could keep her warm during the harsh winter wind. She took one last look into the deserted alley she stayed in, one last attempt to find something to help her - be it a bottle of alcohol or some form of warmth. Seeing nothing, she gave a weak attempt in trying to get comfortable in the shabby box. She slowly drifted into a dreamless sleep that she didn't know if she would wake from.

She awoke the next day at the crack of dawn to a throbbing dull ache spreading throughout her whole body. It was something else that she was used to by now. There was a crick in her neck, a stiffness in her left leg, and a pain in her head so severe that she could barely see clearly. She knew she wouldn't be able to last the winter if she didn't find better shelter, but she had nowhere to go. It was another day to let her mind plague her with thoughts of despair and hopelessness. She knew she was ill, as she believed she had a muggle sickness. Influenza was something she heard many passers-by speak of.

The previous month, she went to a free clinic to receive a shot that would help with battling the flu, but so far, nothing had happened. She still felt the same sickness day in and day out. She felt as though there would be no end to this, for even the Purple Lady had come down with it. Having observed the Purple Lady's life for the past year, Ginny came to realize that the woman, along with dressing in purple everyday of the week, had never seemed to be ill until just a week ago. At least the Purple Lady had medicine to help her cope with the symptoms, Ginny figured.

Eventually the sun was shining as radiant as ever, a very misleading image for the air was a chilly twenty degrees Fahrenheit. The streets were covered in a dirty grey slush from the muggle automobiles driving through. It was a Monday morning, and many reluctant muggles were on their way to a long day of work. Letting out a long sigh, she leaned her head back and tried to keep her mind off of the terrible cold. She knew that her feet, barely covered by a pair of worn-out shoes, were nearly frostbitten. Her nose wasn't in any better condition.

Hogwarts was in shambles. The once magnificent castle that she had considered her home-away-from-home was now nothing but giant mass of rubble. She hadn't even been able to start her Seventh Year- something she had greatly looked forward to. Ever since Dumbledore passed on in her Fifth Year, she had always wondered when the school would close down. Even with Professor McGonagall as Headmistress, it just wasn't the same. She planned on becoming an auror, just like the majority of her Gryffindor friends.

The Burrow had been burned down until all that was left was a dark area of dirt in the middle of the green foliage outside of her home. The evil Death Eaters had decided to hurt the family that Harry Potter considered as his own. They figured that it would be the best way to weaken him, and it did. They locked the Weasley family in with dark magic spells that none of the family had heard of before. They had picked the night on which a family reunion took place. Even Bill and Charlie were there. Percy had stopped by for a few moments and paid respects to his mother, but left soon after receiving death glares from Ron, his father, and almost everyone else who saw him.

At precisely 9:00 P.M. on a beautiful late July night, Death Eaters swarmed the outside perimeters of the house, disabling all alarms and protection shields Arthur, Molly, and the rest of the family had put up. Even some highly-ranked members of the Ministry had helped, causing some suspicions when the next day they found out about the attack. There was a leak in the Ministry, proving that nothing was safe anymore, especially in this desperate time of war. They cast many dark and complex spells around the threshold, locking the family inside. Though there were many attempts to get out, they were unsuccessful. By midnight, there was nothing left of the Weasley house. No one would have even known a family was there in the first place, no one but 17-year-old Ginevra Weasley who had snuck out to meet her new muggle boyfriend, ditching the family reunion.

_She had just spent a magical evening with her muggle boyfriend who lived about a mile away from her house in the country. After visiting with her family for a while, she left at 6:30 to go to Matthew's house. She figured the family wouldn't miss her. Despite the knot tangled in her stomach during the time she was away, she still tried to have a nice time with her boyfriend of three months who miraculously still hadn't figured there was anything unusual about her, let alone the fact that she was a witch. Eventually she had to go back home, and she did with hopes that she would make it in time before everyone went to sleep. She wanted to wish Charlie and Bill a sweet goodbye before they left to go back to their respective homes. She knew that it wouldn't be problem though because the Weasley family would be up into the wee hours of the morning that night celebrating. Even though she had ditched her family, she still wanted to see them off properly. Besides, she hadn't given Ron the proper congratulations he deserved for getting his first job as an auror. Even though times were hard and dark forces ran amok, the family pushed aside their worries and smiled for their son's achievements. Also, Ron was planning to propose to Hermione Granger, and Ginny wanted to see the ring if Ron would let her._

_About a quarter of a mile away from home, returning from a magical night with Matthew, she saw the Dark Mark hovering over where her house would have stood, a large puff of rising black smoke. Shaking uncontrollably and with nonsense thoughts running through her mind, she ran to the emergency hide-away that her father had employed for this reason exactly, just as a safety precaution in case the family was ever attacked. Expecting to see at least one member of her family there, she was surprised to find that no one was there. In attempt to keep her head calm, she figured that they had already used the portkey to the Ministry. She walked over to a pine tree and touched the small bird house that hung off a needle-covered branch and immediately felt the sensation of being pulled by the portkey._

_When she arrived at the Ministry, she noted that the clock read midnight. She ran to the first person she saw and asked if any members of her family had been through this way. The confused secretary replied no and asked if everything was alright. Ever since Arthur had been given a promotion, people began to notice him and gave him and his family more respect. Ginny immediately broke down into hysteric tears. The secretary notified nearly every department and the Minister of Magic. A group of aurors and other specialists fighting against Voldemort traveled immediately to The Burrow. After putting out the raging fire, all that was recovered was a clock of the Weasley family. Everyone was pointing to "Dead", a sign Ginny had never seen before, except for Ginny and Percy who pointed to "Mortal Peril". _

_Overcome with sadness, Ginny cried her heart out until she became sick from the emotion. Percy had been called to the scene, seeing as he was the last member of her immediate family, and arrived with tears streaming down his face. Once Ginny saw him, she forgave him at once of what he had done and they embraced each other. Still crying, Percy apparated back to his flat along with Ginny who had not yet taken apparition courses, or the test for that matter. He made her a nice cup of tea, but when she was presented with it, she cried because it was exactly how Mrs. Weasley made it. For a while longer, she silently wept until she fell asleep. Percy looked sadly at his sister, and knew that he had to do something to avenge the death of his family. He wrote Ginny a note and left to go back to the office to seek out plans on what the Ministry was going to do._

_Ginny woke with a start at 5:00 in the morning with no idea where she was. She thought for while until the previous night's memories flooded through her like a tidal wave crashing onto the shore. The depression she was going through was like a heavy weight sitting on her heart. _

"_Percy?" she called. "Percy are you here?" She called and searched for him a little while longer until she found the note that he left her. It said that he went back to the Ministry and would probably be there until later the next day. At the end there was a small post-script in which he told her that she could floo to his office. All she needed to do was say "Percy's Office" instead of "Ministry of Magic". _

_With an intense desire to be in someone's company, she immediately ran to his fireplace, grabbed a handful of floo powder, threw it to the floor of the fireplace, and yelled "Percy's Office". She was transported roughly to a scene that jarred her senses and took every bit of happiness she would ever be able to hold on to away. At first, her arrival to Percy's office in the Ministry was pleasant. Percy kept a very clean fireplace, so she wasn't completely covered in soot when she landed. When she looked up, such a strong feeling of dread and fear seeped over her._

_Blood was all over his once sterile and clean office. It was not just any blood though; Ginny knew it was Percy's blood. His marred and lifeless body was limp on the ground in a very mangled position. Needing to get out of the office and afraid to go back to Percy's flat, Ginny peered out of the office door into the hallway. It seemed as though Death Eaters swarmed the place sometime in the previous night. Turmoil stirred inside the depths of her stomach. She looked around and saw that Ministry Officials were bound by their hands and gagged, lifeless and bloody on the floor. Nausea swept over her and fighting the urge to vomit, she ran to the safety of an exit and stealthily emerged from the building, hoping that there were no other Death Eaters roaming the premises._

_She had nowhere to go. She knew of no other place where she would be offered safety. Then it dawned on her. She was at least forty-five minutes away from Harry's flat and she could fly there. She knew once Harry became an auror, he wanted living quarters close to the Ministry so he would be available whenever they needed him. Certainly there had to be some broom nearby. She searched the campus for one, yet the tired ache that was spreading through her bones was telling her mind to get some rest. Gathering her courage and shaping a smile over her deep grimace of suffering, she hopped on a broom she had stumbled over, ignoring the small blood stains from an employee who must have tried to escape, and started flying towards her last chance of sanctuary. _

_About half way there, she realized that the sun was rising. The night had shielded her from being seen before, but now there was nothing keeping her invisible from muggles. She hastily landed and hopped off the broom. She felt around her muggle clothes, hoping that her wand had not fallen out. Thankfully it was tucked away in her jacket pocket. Sighs of relief merged from her mouth, and she cast an invisibility spell that she read in an advanced spell book of hers. It hadn't been in use for twenty years because of potions and cloaks, but if performed correctly, it could last for an average time-span of an hour. She then cast it on her broom and took of into the sky once again._

_Looking down over the buildings on the street where Harry's flat was located, she noticed something in an alley below her. She knew that what she was doing was dangerous enough, but she thought that maybe someone had managed to escape the Ministry and was going to Harry's flat. She started her descend to the alley below. It was still fairly dark despite the rising sun, so she whispered "Lumos" to obtain some sense of where she was. After quickly looking around, she wished that she had never landed to check out what was there._

_What she saw had diminished all of her hopes almost immediately. There was not only one dead body, but two. And they belonged to Harry Potter and Rubeus Hagrid. There was no hope for the Wizarding world. Harry was supposed to be the savior that would defeat Voldemort, returning safety to her life and the lives of every witch and wizard alive. There was nowhere left for her to go. There was nothing left for her to live for. Barely clinging on to any hope she had left, she turned her back on the scene before her and let a few tears fall from her eyes. Then she remembered the Order. Even though Harry was gone, the Order still had to be intact. It was her last hope. _

_She was about to take her broom out again for another long, exhausting ride to, when she remembered that she could not go the Black House. Because Harry was dead, all of the Black family's possessions would go to Bellatrix Lestrange, a very prominent and accomplished Death Eater. Without a second though, she knew that she had to go to Hogwarts. Maybe some of the teachers had gathered there. It was her very last chance at salvation. She mounted her broom, but realized that she would never be able to make it all the way to Scotland by broom. It would be a near lethal attempt. Then she remembered the Knight Bus. She hesitantly stuck her wand hand out and waited for the Bus to come. A foreboding feeling deepened in the pit of her stomach when she saw the purple vehicle flying her way. She had no idea what she was about to be greeted by._

_As it pulled up to her side and the door opened, she wasn't welcomed by the wonderful Stan Shunpike, or Ernie Prang, but she was harshly grabbed and pulled inside by a strong, robed, and masked Death Eater. Frightened tears spilled over her eye and clumsily tumbled down her flushed cheeks as her heart raced faster and faster. 'Good bye Ginny,' she said to herself. She knew this would be her end. She tried to compose herself, but it did not help when the Death eater pulled her to a bed an threw her on it. Terrible thoughts took over her mind. She wanted to die immediately. She didn't want to endure the torture she was bound to go through beforehand. Before she had a chance to let out another whimper, the Death Eater said something._

"_You are our prisoner now," said the Death Eater gruffly and menacingly in a baritone voice that let his gender be known. Oddly, the voice sounded very familiar. _

'_Where on earth have I heard that voice before?' she asked herself. She knew it sounded so familiar, but she brushed the thought aside, as more pessimistic notions flew in its place. She thought of being tortured a great something worse than the Cruciatus, killed slowly and painfully, and being left in a dungeon. _

"_I'm sure we'll have time for some of that later," he remarked. Ginny figured that he was using Legilimens to read her thoughts and tried to block him, but was unsuccessful for she never had training in Occlumency._

_She looked out the window and saw that they were flying over water. Gathering her courage, she decided to ask a question, but immediately decided against it figuring that she would get herself killed faster than she hoped for. As her courage went caput, so did her brain. Tears were slowly threatening to jump out of the confines of her eyes again. The man slowly stepped over to her. It didn't even look like he was walking. It was much more of a glide. Such an elegant walk didn't deserve to be wasted on filth like him._

_When he reached the bed she was sitting on, he raised his arm to strike her, but instead lightly tapped her cheek._

"_You will know where we are going once we arrive," said the man. _

_She trembled in fear as she again thought of what he could do to her, but at the same time, her mind was boggled on why that evil, malicious, yet smooth, baritone voice, sounded so familiar. She had now laid down on the bed, keeping an eye on the Death Eater._

'_Who has a voice like that?' she questioned herself. Taking a deeper look at the man, she noticed that a long strand of silvery hair had snuck out of the hood. She knew who it was. A memory passed through her head, distracting her the from the existing thoughts of death that seemed to have taken over her mind. She remembered that day clearly. It was a day that changed her life..._

**It was a busy day at Diagon Alley. Many people gathered at Flourish and Blotts to see the great Gilderoy Lockhart. She knew her mother had a bit of a soft spot for the man, but she loved Daddy with all her heart. It was a special day, today. Harry potter was accompanying her family to get school supplies. He had been staying at The Burrow for quite some time, now. Ron and the twins had rescued him from that horrid place. **

**She was going to begin her first year at Hogwarts, soon and was very excited. Once Harry saw her at school, she knew that he would fall in love with her, as much as she loved him. Then she would be the happiest girl alive, for she had fancied Harry ever since the first day her mother helped him get to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Harry would love her for who she was, and he state of her robes and books wouldn't matter because she would have Harry Potter forever. **

**Her family, now including Hermione Granger, was about to leave the store when none other than Draco Malfoy came up to the small group. It was just Ron, Harry, Hemione and herself. He had said some pretty cruel things before his father and come along and told him to stop, not only did he do that but eventually he slipped a certain someone's diary into Ginny's pile of second-hand books.**

_Yes, the voice belonged to Lucius Malfoy, the one and only. Her stomach came up to her throat, an opposite from where it settled before. Her mouth dried and her palms became sweaty. Lucius Malfoy was supposed to be in prison along with some other recently captured Death Eaters. If he was free then that meant that the others were most likely free too. At this realization, the Death Eater looked over at her and tucked the free strands of hair back into the hooded robes. She looked at him with bug-eyes that had no intentions of hiding her emotions. She was scared. This was the man who was responsible for giving her that wretched diary. _

"_Ahh," he drawled, "I see you've made that deduction. It is true, I won't lie.'_

"_B-But h-how?" she questioned before she could stop._

"_Don't you know to keep your mouth shut?" he said in such a strict voice that made her bones shake beneath her skin._

_She nodded while her eyes watered with tears._

"_I suppose I'll have to punish you."_

_Her eyes were flooded with painful tears before anything could happen._

"_Save your tears girl. This is nothing."_

_Before she could blink an eye, he had called a curse._

"_CRUCIO," he shouted. His voice dripped with malevolence and his eyes glistened happily with malice._

_Pain could not even begin to describe what she was feeling. She felt as though she was on fire, but at the same timeshe suffered a harsh coldness that could cause her heart to stop. The tips of her nerves screamed from a blinding sting that seemed to never end. Sharp, acute pings shot through her head, causing her eyes to burn and sting. Blackness took over her once colorful vision. Her stomach and lungs felt like they were being twisted with every unnatural movement she made. She writhed on the bed in pain and could not contain her screams. Her body twitched and turned, shook and jumped on impulses that she could not control. She couldn't stop the pain. It was going to take over her entire body and she would never be able to return to her reality._

_Lucius, seeing her shout in agony and twist in pain, decided he should stop now. It was getting boring and he wanted the girl alive in a good state of mind. She shouldn't end up like the Longbottoms, he thought as he lifted the curse. She saw a magnificent light as the pain ended. A bright white light flashed before her just as her vision was engulfed by darkness. As soon as the pain had started, it had stopped._

_She awoke in a cold place, but she wasn't sure if it was her vision or if the place really was darker than anywhere she had ever been. A barred window at the top of where she was provided the small light she needed to figure that she was in some kind of dungeon cell and allowed her vision to come out of the hazy darkness it possessed._

_She desperately tried to call out to someone to come save her, but all she heard in response was her echo, resounding off the dank and dingy walls of the dungeon she was in. She sat down on the cold, hard stone floor, hoping that there would be no slimy insects crawling about her body. Asshe thought more about the bugs, sherealized that insects were the least of her worries. She moved her hand to help balance herself into a more lounge-like position, but instead of feeling the cold stone floor, she felt hair, a nose, and a mouth. She shrieked in fear and stood up, only to find herself dizzy, nauseous, and falling back to the ground without any ability to regain balance._

_As she fell, she let herself drown in the darkness, letting go of any hope she could have every hold on to._

_She, yet again, awoke. But this time she was in a very comfortable bed. A downy duvet covered her and provided some sense of comfort. Groggily, she propped herself up, using her elbows to balance her aching body. She looked around where she was. The room was mainly green. A deep brandy wood stain coated any wood furniture or decor in sight. Silver accented nearly everything from the curtains to the blanket snuggled around her. The room gave off an antique atmosphere, making Ginny feel completely at home._

_No. She didn't want to be comforted in this place where she was probably going to be tortured again. She had remembered everything that had happened to her. This had only made it worse - being in a strange new place that was pulling down her defenses and replacing them with a sense of security. She couldn't take a game like this any longer, for it had gotten to her and she was sick of it._

"_Who's doing this?" she screamed at the top of her lungs. After a few moments, she was replied to by nothing other than a deep growl of her stomach. She waited another couple of minutes before she screamed for someone to show themselves again, but nothing happened. A horrible feeling welled in the most sensitive pit of her stomach. Dizziness swarmed her vision as she stood much too quickly. Her palms began to sweat profusely. Her breathing became raspy and short. "Is anyone there," she deliriously questioned the air in front of her. "Someone help me," she sobbed desperately and slipped off the bed in a hysterical state of mind. _

_She bumped her head on the corner of the night stand on her way down. Her vision was clouded by a darkness that was crawling around the edges of her light and coloring it black. She couldn't see properly, and it scared her. Her eyes hurt to stay open, but she couldn't let herself slip away again. She needed to know what was happening and who was responsible, even though the answer to the second query made her shiver in fear. Despite the difficulty, she stood again using the bed as support, but found that she could not support herself at all and that the bed was no help. Right before she was about to slump to the floor, she let out a gasp as two strong arms tightened around her waist, hoisting her onto the bed._

_She made struggled and fruitless attempts to get away from who was keeping her down on the bed. She repeated "NO!" over and over again to whoever held her there. She feared that she was going to be taken advantage of._

"_Calm down, Weaselette," the voice said. It sounded smooth and deep, but not as low as Lucius's was. "I won't hurt you."_

_She visibly settled down, but her breathing didn't sound settled yet. There was no way she was going to trust anyone after what had happened to her. The nick name sounded familiar, but at the moment she could not concentrate on anything aside from the pain she was in._

"_I'm going to help you. Is that O.K.?" the voice asked. Whoever was with her was obviously male._

"_O.K." she responded after a few moments of hesitation. Her voice was unsteady and barely audible._

_She felt whoever it was get off the bed. Shuffles of footsteps could be heard as the person went away._

"_No," she cried, realizing that the person may never come back. Her voice was raspy and hoarse. It screamed for water without even saying the words. "Please don't leave me." She began to beg. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes._

"_It's alright," the presence of the voice returned and the bed sunk as the extra weight was added. She felt safer already. She tried to tell herself that the person was most likely bad, but she knew that she would be fine. _

_She could smell who was sitting by her now.He had a very masculine scent of oranges mixed with mint, which provided a refreshing smell, as the deep cologne that she couldn't figure out covered him. She felt like she was floating on air as she inhaled him. She also became aware that her odor must have been terrible because of the events she had been through. She had already gone without showering a day before she blacked out, and being in the dungeon couldn't have helped considering the stench down there was unbearable. She wasn't even sure how long she had stayed in there._

"_Here," he said, "I want you to drink this. It will make you feel better." She could feel him push a small glass into her hand so she could grip it safely. He helped her sit up so she could drink, and then helped guide the glass to her lips._

"_What is it?" she skeptically asked, thinking it was some kind of poison. _

"_Do you honestly want to know?"_

_Thinking that the ingredients weren't of the utmost importance, she questioned him again, this time more to the point. "Well, what does it do?"_

"_Don't go around telling people this, it isn't anything anyone else should know, but I made a potion with Professor Snape that can cure some effects caused by the Cruciatus Curse. You seem to be in need of one."_

"_Is it really?" She asked, her small, full, chapped lips formed a tiny smile. "Wait, how do you know Professor Snape?" She knew that the Professor was a Death Eater, and doubted that the man giving her the potion was anything having to do with the Light side of the war._

"_Yes," whispered the guy. "Now drink it," he commanded with a hint of agitation in his voice. "I know Professor Snape because he was my Potions teacher for a while at Hogwarts, before he was promoted to D.A.D.A."_

_She decided the best way would be to down it all in one gulp. Potions never tasted good. She held the glass up to her lips. The wretched smell of it made her want to vomit. She plugged her nose using her thumb and pointer finger. She parted her lips slightly and downed it all at once. She supposed since the person went to Hogwarts and didn't seem to be too suspicious that she could trust him. Besides, even though she despised the man, Professor Snape, for what he did, he was a very accomplished Potions Master._

_The feeling she got after drinking it was anything but pleasant. Her stomach turned and twisted, and a slight headache was beginning to form. But as soon as it began, it was over. She felt as though she had been renewed to a point. Her vision was crystal clear, and her body felt rejuvenated. She turned to thank whoever gave her the potion._

"_Thank you...," she paused, a baffled look came upon her face, "Malfoy?"_

"_Draco Malfoy," he replied with a smirk. "Pleasure meeting you here, Weasley," he sneered sarcastically._

"_No," she cried, "I have to leave. You will take me to your father or - or maybe you'll just torture me yourself!" She was crying hysterically and had jumped out of the bed, running towards the door._

"_No, I won't!" he screamed and grabbed her waist. "I'm not like him." He became exremely annoyed that she had compared him to his father._

"_Yes you are," her voice quivered with both fear and rage. "You are Death Eater SCUM and I will not become some victim of your torture," she screamed and struggled to escape from his firm hold on her._

"_I'm not a Death Eater," he replied in agitation. This was much harder than he thought, but he needed her to stay._

"_Show me your arm then. Your left arm." She knew that he wouldn't. She caught him in his own trick._

_Her eyes enlarged with surprise as he revealed his arm. A perfectly normal, unblemished, Dark-Mark-free arm, but Ginny did not buy it one bit. She knew that before the war started, many Death Eaters hid their Dark Marks with special concealment charms._

"_I see," she remarked. He had loosened his grip on her waist, making her escape easier than she though. Without any notice, she dashed for the door while screaming "You're hiding it with a spell. I know you are, you piece of cra- " but she was cut off._

"_WAIT," he bellowed with an anger that stopped her in her tracks and quietly whimper. He crept towards her and forced her back towards the bed, away from the door, where he could catch her if she tried to leave again. He supposed that he should have known that this would have happened, but all he wanted to do was help her. She could have been one of the few good witches that were left. _

_"If you leave, Ginny, you will die," he said, stressing her first name._

_Her body shook with fear. Her eyes watered with scared tears. He was going to kill her. Her knees went weak and she sat on the bed. No matter how hard she tried, the tears would not stop flowing. _

"_Are you going to kill me?" she asked in the faintest whisper he had ever heard._

"_No," he responded. "I am in hiding from my father and Voldemort - are you still scared of that? - you see. They are after me because at the end of my Seventh Year, I joined the Light. I've been in hiding ever since, and they have been looking for me ever since, and if you leave, they will track both you and me down."_

"_I - I'm s- sorry," her body racked with tears. "We could've been killed." _

_He stared at the girl in disbelief. Her moods were unbearable. She was skeptical, then happy, then furious. Now she was terribly anguished. Not knowing what to do, he put an arm awkwardly around her shoulders. He never thought he would live to see the day where he would be comforting a Weasley._

"_No need to cry. It's O.K. now."_

"_But it's awful!_ _I could've gotten us killed!_" _she wailed and threw herself into his embrace, soaking his shirt with tears of despair. She was shocked that Malfoy was being almost caring._

"_No, really. We're fine now."_

"_B-but y-y-you're m-mad at meeee," she sobbed and whined. He really couldn't take any more of this. He savedthe girl's life and she gave him a headache._

"_I'm not mad at you. Trust me. We all make mistakes," he said, the agitation in his voice barely kept at bay, but she apparently didn't notice._

_She looked up at him. Her wide, doe-like eyes stared at him in disbelief. His sullen gray eyes stared down at her in confusion. They became lost in each others eyes, and they didn't know why. Then, he realized she needed more support, so he smiled. It wasn't the prettiest thing Ginny had ever seen, but it did the trick. Her mouth had been moisturized by her tears and were now a bit smoother fromthe waythey were before. She softened and smiled in return. Then, she burst out laughing only to look up to a dark look that came over his face._

"_What's so funny?"he questioned._

_She looked at him in utter disbelief and returned to her giggling, trying to keep the laughter at bay with all her might. It hurt her stomach she had laughed so hard._

"_Tell me," he pestered, becoming more agitated with every giggle escaping her lips. He saved her life for goodness-sake and all she does is give him a headache and laugh at him. _

_Her laughing subsided to small chuckles whenever she looked at him. So, breaking any eye contact, she told him._

"_You can't smile. Really, I don't recommend that you do that, Malfoy," she squeaked._

"_Yes I can. I just did."_

"_If you call that a smile."_

_He really couldn't smile. He was never been brought up to. The facial muscles weren't able to move like that and could not form anything remarkably close to a smile. In fact, it made him look like he was quite constipated, which was what cause Ginny's outbreak of laughter._

"_Try smiling and looking in the mirror," she suggested. "Trust me, it's not something you'd want to see again."_

_He scowled at her and ran to a mirror that was eloquently placed in the room. Looking directly at the reflection of his mouth, he arranged his face into a smile. Shocked by the terribly embarrassing appearance of his attempted smile, he realized why she had laughed and told him not to smile. His Malfoy pride would never let him admit that he couldn't do something, but in this case he figured that it was best if he didn't smile again for a long time._

"_You're right. I can't smile," he admitted somewhat sadly._

"_That's O.K., I can teach you!" Ginny exclaimed._

"_You can't teach a person to smile, Ginny."_

"_Yes you can."_

"_How?"_

"_By making you need to smile. Making you laugh." Ginny confused herself. She tried to tell herself that this was Malfoy, but she couldn't help it. She had seen something in him that made her heart beat faster._

_Her stomach audibly growled, interrupting the beginning of a smiling lesson. Draco was actually thankful that she was hungry because it saved him from learning how to smile - something he didn't quite want to do._

"_You can teach me to smile after you've eaten. It's probably been about six days since you've last had something to eat. You were out quite some time."_

_She had been out for six days, meaning that she hadn't showered in about a week. At once she felt extremely disgusting and gross. She couldn't bear the dirty feeling that took over her body. Her stomach grumbled again, forcing her to choose food over beauty. "O.K. Let's get something, but the second we're done, I have to shower."_

_He led her down a staircase she hadn't seen and they enjoyed a nice, hot lunch._

That was basically how everything was until the fateful day that ended it all.

Ginny sat up in her box. "I wish you were with me Draco," she whispered to herself as she went out into the muggle world that she lived in, feeling even more disgusting than she had the day when she found out she hadn't showered in six days. Now, it had been well over six days since she last showered. In fact, it had been well over a month.


	2. And the World Spins

A/N: Same as the first chappie. Also, I've decided that if need be I will not take events from HBP and use them in the story if my ideas and HBP clash, so if I write something that didn't really happen...don't yell! And thank you to my one reviewer :-) 33

Disclaimer: I don't own it...If I did...let's not think about that. I might get ideas..

Finding Hope Again

_Chapter Two: And the World Spins_

Everything was gray. That's what it was always like in muggle London during the horridly frigid winter. Gray was nothing and everything at once. It was just a reminder of the resemblance the cold had to twenty-one-year-old Ginny's life now - a gray oblivion without a chance that any other color would be able to shine through again. Everything about her was gray now, and she despised it. Her hair was dull and greasy because she had not showered in such a long time, her skin was an ashen gray because of her living conditions, and her soul had turned gray, not that anyone could see it, but she knew that there was nothing vibrant left to it. She longed for color, but knew that spring would be just another era of grayness, and that her heart would never return to a vibrant red again.

It had been about a month now since she went to the clinic and received the flu shot. They told her that the flu would heal on its own with some good rest and Vitamin C, but Ginny did not have the funds to stay in a warm room or buy orange juice. She told them, and the understood. The nurse gave her a jug of orange juice and offered Ginny a bed in a room in the back of the clinic where they sometimes allowed sick homeless women, men, and children stay. She said that Ginny could stay for two days because the bed was often needed for others who were in worse condition than Ginny. Ginny graciously accepted the offer, but felt bad that she could not repay them. She held the nurses and doctors with the utmost appreciation she could muster and gave them her undying gratitude. While at the clinic, she had the option to take a shower, which was the first thing she did.

She walked down an alleyway, just to walk and try and clear her mind. The splitting pain of losing everything never left, but she knew that remembering wouldn't do her any worse. In fear of becoming so completely empty, she did all she could do. She filled herself with memories from day to day. There had been so many days that she had lost count. It must have been three years since she last saw Draco by now, but time made no difference. Whoever said that time heals everything could never have been more wrong.

She kept walking into the gray abyss. It never seemed to end. Gray was a horrid color, she knew so, for gray was nothing and he always said...

**What did he say?**

"Nothing. He said nothing." Her voice rang out into the fogged and dirty air. She knew the voice she responded to came from within, and it never left her alone when she let her mind wander.

**He said everything you wanted him too, everything you ever needed to hear, didn't he?**

"He didn't say anything."

**Yes he did, and you know he did. He told you lies.**

"I don't remember. He never told me anything. Go away!" she screamed.

**Yes you do, foolish girl. You remember everything he said.**

"No, no I don't."

**He told you that you were beautiful.**

"No."

**He said he's be there for you always.**

"No, no you're lying."

**He told you to run.**

"STOPཀ" she screamed into the damp pathway. Her breathing was labored, but the voice seemed to stop. Relishing the time she had now that the voice was gone, she began to walk again, only to find that the voice did not truly go away.

**I'm not the one that lies Ginny.**

"I don't know," Ginny responded warily. She had a feeling about where the voice was going, but she was in no state of mind to relive this demon.

**You remember when he told you, don't you? You remember how he lied.**

A silence befell Ginny and she could not hear anything. Her ears rang and the sensation wouldn't leave her, but she knew that she couldn't do anything. She was weak and helpless now, and she certainly wasn't the Ginny she had been so long ago. In fact, one wouldn't even think they were born the same person to begin with. She continued walking. Her foot steps echoed of the brick walls as the snow crunched beneath her feet. She found the sound comforting, just like him. Whenever she was in his arms, she knew that there was always hope.

_It was a normal day at Draco's flat in Bath. Snape brought them food for the month and they thought nothing could go wrong. So far their hiding had worked beautifully and not one Death Eater knew that they still existed. They had each other and that was all that mattered._

_On that particular day though, it seemed as though their beautiful world would be snapped into two pieces. Everything would fall apart, and there was nothing they could do to stop it. Snape walked through the secret cellar door and rushed to the couple that was talking over a cup of coffee. He felt bad to reduce their smiles into nothing short of frowns. His rushed footsteps quickly won the attention of the two. He stood for a moment, doubled over and out of breath. _

"_What is it Severus?" asked Draco, worried because the rushing ex-professor had a look of pure fear on his face - something very unlikely to find in the years Draco had known him._

"_I - I - Here. They're here. They've found you. You have to hide," he forced out, still trying to catch his breath. He had run two miles to tell them to hide, but still feared there wouldn't be anytime to escape._

_Ginny was stunned. The location was supposed to kept secret. How did they find out? These questions clouded her mind and tears seeped out from beneath her closed eyes. Snape must have been lying to them; surly the Death Eaters weren't coming. This was all some kind of cruel joke he had decided to play on them. She looked up at Draco, but found little comfort. She had never seen her lover so rattled before. Draco grabbed her hand and pulled her into a cellar that she hadn't noticed in the time she had been there._

"_Gin," he said in a stern voice that was laced with sadness and concern, " you need to run. This is an underground path way that will lead you to Pansy's."_

"_But isn't Pansy a Death Eater?"_

"_No she's not. Just go_ཀ" _He pulled her up momentarily and planted one last passion-filled kiss on her sweet delicate lips. He wished that he didn't have to leave her, but it was the only way she would stay safe. Ginny kissed back with the same passion he had, but soon they could taste each other's tears on their lips and pulled away. _

"_Goodbye Ginny. If we don't see each other again, just know that I will always love you." As Draco said this, tears began to pour down Ginny's cheeks as if her eyes were built in waterfalls. _

"_Draco, please don't say that. We will be together again." As she said this, Draco closed the cellar door. She heard him muttering spells to seal the door as she pounded her fists on the wooden blockade in protest._

"_Draco, let me out_ཀ" _she screamed. "Please Draco_ཀ" _she paused for a moment. "I love you Draco, and I will never stop loving you." Then, she heard a soft, almost faint reply._

"_I love you too Ginny. Just please, run. I will always be with you." The last thing she heard before she ran were the screams of spells from Draco and Snape. She hoped they would be okay._

_Her sullen eyes unleashed even more bitter droplets. Putting faith in her wobbly legs, she ran as fast as she could, wishing that she would never have to leave him behind. She knew that he would come to her though, he said he would always be with her._

_As she traveled further down the tunnel, she concentrated on anything that wouldn't disturb her. It was more important to have a cool mind in a situation like this than to fret over anything. Draco taught her how to protect herself and how to stay calm - something she had trouble learning._

_The very narrow pathway was dark and humid. The ground was constantly wet, and it felt like running in mud. About two people would be able to comfortably squeeze in side by side, and the ceiling was fairly high. As she progressed on her journey, the stench in the pathway made her nauseous, but she moved on, ignoring the dull ache in her thighs and calves. Out-of-breath and determined, she plowed her way to Pansy's. Her mind had no control over her legs now; she just kept on running like there was no tomorrow. Her muscles yearned for a rest and her lungs screamed for air, but her safety was at the top of her list, and she knew she couldn't stop for anything._

_After another ten minutes, she could faintly see a dim light ahead of her, but she wasn't sure if she was imagining it or not. She had been feeling dizzy and needed to re-hydrate as soon as she could. Maybe the was a figment of her imagination. No, it couldn't be- it was too real. Everything was just too real right now for her to handle. Everything she and Draco had feared was happening, and there was no avoiding it. Everything that could wreck her life with Draco suddenly became an issue, and she wished that she never had to leave his loving embrace. _

_The light was closer now. She knew that the end of the tunnel would come soon, but she did not let up her speed. Through the pain she kept going. Tears spilled from her eyes as the light was clearly visible, and she wanted to bask in the comfort it brought her. Seeing the light was a little sign to Ginny that she would never be left completely in the dark, but she had no idea how dark her life could be. At the moment she just grieved over having to leave Draco behind. She had no clue how long she would be without him. _

_At last, there was no where left to go. A slimy moss-covered stone wall blocked her from moving any further down the tunnel. Realizing she could clearly see all that was around her, she looked up to the light that spilled out from the cracks in a wooden board. It was a beautiful thing, the light was. She banged on the wood that was blocking her from the rest of the it. She needed more of the light, the dark was getting to her and she felt like the light would bring Draco to her, but the lies she fed to herself would soon be proven wrong._

_After a while of waiting, the door opened. Her eyes shone like they had never seen the light of day, but Ginny was more concerned with where the love of her life was._

"_Where's Draco? Where's Draco?" She began to mutter, half hysterical. All she needed was him and everything would be okay. She couldn't help but listen to the nagging though at the back of her mind that told her he was dead. Before she knew what was happening she grew very dizzy. _

"_Neville, quick_ཀ _We have a visitor." yelled a feminine voice from her right. She heard footsteps moving towards her, but did not care. She could not breath right, and the nausea returned. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and someone talking to her. It was the girl. She kept asking her questions, but Ginny found she could not answer. _

_Then, her world went into oblivion._

He saved her from the Death Eaters that came to destroy them. It would have been different if he wasn't one, but he was. He had told her that he was not a Death Eater, but it was all a lie, as she later found out. He had lied to her, and that was the only thing that he did that momentarily crushed her, and nearly their relationship, but later he had explained.

He explained that she was hysterical and was bound to give lead to someone where his hiding place was. If she didn't get killed in the process of running from him, she was bound to eventually. Months later, when Snape stopped by, she freaked out, knowing that Snape was a Death Eater, but not just any Death Eater. He was the Death Eater that killed her beloved Professor Dumbledore. He knew from what she told him that she did not know the whole story.

After the visit, he told her everything. He told her about his mission to kill Dumbledore, and how he could not complete it. He told her about how Snape had to help him because of a promise he made to Narcissa. He then told her how they both worked for the Light, and that the incident was something Dumbledore knew was going to happen. Dumbledore was never afraid of death, and he did not die in vain, but he did convince Draco that being on the Light side was for the best. He told her about the spying that he and Snape did for the Order, and how they had nearly been caught many times, but proved their loyalty by killing - something Draco regretted with all of his being.

When he finished, Ginny simply let tears flow from her face. She kissed him on the cheek and went to bed. She could not believe what he told her, but then again all of her memories from Hogwarts rushed to her. She remember how the Trio always thought he was because of his father. She remembered all the grief he caused her family. She remembered all of the bad he had done before, and she began to hate him for it.

She kept walking, pushing the memory down into the confines of her mind, where she could never reach it again. She hated the thought that she left him. She could have stayed. Being dead would have been better than living now, she thought. She hated the fact that she had left him when he would always be there for her, but she knew that he wouldn't have it any other way. That's how she knew he loved her, even though she would never let herself remember being so in love. She would just watch and relive the memories in disbelief, oblivious to feeling anything she would have years ago.

**See, he loved you.** The voice returned, interrupting her dismal thoughts.

"No he didn't," she replied. She would not let the voice weaken her anymore than she already was.

**Yes he did. Who knows where you'd be now without him.**

"He didn't love me..."

**Give me one reason why he didn't love you.**

"He left me. He left me. He doesn't love me because he left me."

**He made you leave because he loved you, he never left you.**

She was silent as she pondered what the voice told her. Maybe it would help to agree for once; maybe it would ease the never-ending burn in her heart.

"You're right," she whispered back to the voice in her head that had haunted her for the past three years.

**I know**.

"I still love him," she said as she sat down in a corner of a new alley that she had found on her walk.

**I know, and he is still with you.**

"I need him." She could not stand the emotion she was feeling at the moment. Everything she used to feel - everything she had blocked out for so long was rushing back, and the experience was everything but happy. Her eyes burned as she held back tears.

I know.

"How do I get him back?" She asked the question that had haunted her for years. No matter how many times she asked it, the voice never responded.

Hunger began to gnaw away at her senses, even though she couldn't feel much. With the hunger came sadness. She didn't like sadness, but she welcomed it with open arms. Sadness reminded her she could feel, but at the moment, she wanted to become numb again. She felt the love she had hidden deep inside of her for so long. It was resurfacing, and with it resurfaced so much more - more than she could ever want. The emotion was so strong, it was as though it gave her strength- the strength to find him.

The sun was now at it's fullest peak. Though it wasn't giving much heat, it was making the snow melt. How much longer would winter last? She asked herself. It certainly had gone on for much too long. She wasn't sure she could survive it any longer. The coldness always made things worse on her, but she had never wondered when it would end. Things were beginning to change and she didn't know why. Ever since she gave into the voice, she began to ask more questions and find more answers.

She was now walking down the slush covered sidewalks of muggle London. People wouldn't look and stare at her because she had managed to give off a threatening aura to those who would think of pitying her. Pity was for the weak, and in honor of Draco, she vowed to never show others how weak she really was. It was something that he would have done himself. Besides, if she was truly weak, she would be dead by now. Other than the occasional line of cars, the street was silent. Usually, the bustle of people caused a ruckus, but today, everyone seemed to be gone.

She didn't see the Purple Lady today. The Purple Lady wore absolutely no other color than purple. By daily speculation, she was sure the lady even wore purple knickers. The Lady would usually smile and wave to Ginny, like she was a regular person who wasn't living on the streets. The Purple Lady was the closest thing she had to an acquaintance, even though they had never exchanged any words. Wondering where everyone was, she began to wander around in search of the usual crowd. In the distance, she could faintly hear the sound of a song. Letting her senses take over her, she walked in the direction of the hypnotizing music.

On her way to the source of the music, she literally bumped into the Purple Lady. After apologizing profusely and listening to the Lady's assurance that it was okay, they introduced themselves.

"Well lass, I believe you should know my name! You've nothing to call me, and we've seen each other enough that we ought to know these kinds of things," said the Purple Lady in a warm and rich Irish accent. "I'm Maggie, and it's a pleasure to finally meet you," she said while holding out her hand.

"I'm Ginny," the girl said quietly and timidly grabbed Maggie's hand in return.

"Ginny!" Maggie exclaimed, "what a beautiful name."

"Thank you," Ginny replied.

"Yes, my dear, you're very welcome. I was just on my way over to Hyde park to hear this new local band that's playin' today. Would you enjoy accompanyin' me?" Maggie asked with a smile.

"Actually, that's just where I was going, so yes. I'll go with you," Ginny replied. Maggie's sudden interest in her was making her nervous.

Maggie grabbed her hand and strolled on towards the band. Ginny was surprised that Maggie treated her like a normal clean person. Ginny was well aware of how dirty she was, and how bad she must have smelled. In addition, she was afraid of infecting Maggie with whatever sickness Ginny seemed to have. She began to feel that it wasn't the flu.

She hadn't been in this part of town before. Even though she had lived on the streets long enough, she had never made it a goal to travel so far away. She gathered strength from the new experience and continued on her small journey towards the beautiful music. It reminded her that there was still beauty, even though she didn't always agree.

Once she and Maggie had arrived to hear the fullness of it, she reveled in its glory. It was hypnotizing and spectacular. She was drawn to it almost by some type of magic force. She shivered at the thought of magic being alive. Ever since she lost everything, she decided that magic no longer had a place in her heart, yet she still kept her wand burried in her clothing, but she wasn't exactly sure why because it was broken and useless.

She kept listening to the music. The singer's voice made such a rich sound. It was like a piece of Madame Pomfrey's chocolate after some kind of accident back at Hogwarts. A deep, sweet melody was emitted from the instruments that were so articulately played. It was like magic, and that made her hate it.

The band was perfect for a cold winter day. Ginny basked in this experience and got a good look at the lead singer. He reminded her so much of someone she knew. She sat on the park bench with Maggie, not minding that it was freezing cold. Every time the wind blew, the temperature significantly lowered, but it was though the music kept her from feeling the harsh winter. It was an amazing feeling, and she was grateful for it. It gave her a warmth that she thought was so long gone, never to return again. The song ended and the singer took a small break before going on.

"M-Maggie?" Ginny slightly stuttered, "I think I know who the singer is, but I can't put my finger on it."

"That's such a coincidence Ginny dear," Maggie replied. "I hate when that happens. I usually spend hours racking my brain trying to remember when I'd seen that familiar face before!"

Ginny agreed and began to think of where she had seen him before. It took her a few minuted until she realized that he, the lead singer, had a strong resemblance to her ex-boyfriend, Matthew. She hadn't seen Matthew in such a long time though, so she kept quiet about it.

When he was ready to sing again, he held the microphone slightly below his chin, but in front of it. His voice rang out through the park. "This next song is a song we covered from a band called The Calling. The song's title is 'Wherever You Will Go'. It's a very special song to me, and it reminds me of an amazing girl that I still love." He motioned to his band and the music started again. Ginny was touched by the singer's unrequited love. At least, she figured that was his reasoning.

"So lately, been wondering, who will be there to take my place," he sang beautifully. His voice was lulling her into a world where everything was right- a world she would die to be in again.

"When I'm gone, you'll need love, to light the shadows on your face."

The song went on until she was brought out of her reverie at the end. It reminded her so much of how she felt about Draco, and how she was sure he felt about her. It gave her a sense of hope and despair at the same time. She felt as though she needed to be in Draco's embrace again, as if it was the only thing that could bring her out of this deep depression.

"I'll go wherever you will go," he finished beautifully. Then, to his shock, a lady's voice called out to him.

"Young man," she yelled to him, "that was an excellent song! You performed it very well." Her voice was heavy with a strong Irish accent. Then, Ginny realized it was Maggie. She began to think that Maggie was quite a character.

"Thank you, Miss," he replied, not knowing what to say. Out of all the numerous gigs the band had, he never had been complimented in such a way.

"Now, if you don't mind my asking," she paused for his response with her eyebrow raised.

"I guess I'll answer what you have to ask," he smirked slightly, praying that the woman wouldn't pry to much about the song. It was painful to remember her.

"Who is that girl that you've been missing?"she asked with an almost knowing smile playfully curling her lips.

"Well, Miss, we dated about four years ago. She was the most wonderful girl a guy could ever have. One day, she just disappeared..." he trailed off in thought, but quickly composed himself and continued. "She had snuck out of a family gathering to see me, and then the next day, her house wasn't even there. It was like she just...never existed," he trailed off.

"Hmm...," the lady said, "what did she look like? Maybe we could contact a missing-persons detective or something of that sort. I hate to think about lost love."

Ginny, now intrigued by the story that was so much like her own, was on full alert. She told herself over and over and over again that it wasn't anyone she knew, and it had nothing to do with her. She didn't even know anything about the man in the band, aside from looking somewhat familiar. The lady left the bench and Ginny and walked up to the stairs of the gazebo, making the conversation easier to carry out.

"What did she look like?" the lady asked. Now that she was closer to him, he wasn't using the microphone anymore. Ginny subtly moved closer to the gazebo, following Maggie, so that she was within ear-shot of their conversation. She shook her head in disbelief when she heard his response. It sounded so much like her.

"She had beautiful pale skin sprinkled with small freckles everywhere. She had amazing deep auburn hair and the brownest coffee-colored eyes flecked with gold."

"Do you know how tall she was? Tell me everything lad."

"I'm sorry, I can't remember...it's been so long," he replied. He didn't want to lie to the woman, but he was remembering too much, and it was causing more pain than he bargained for.

"Well, I know someone, well I don't actually know her, but she would help as a visual aid. She somewhat fits your description." As Maggie said this, Ginny slipped away into the crowd and ran.

"I suppose that it would be alright," he replied hesitantly. He wasn't sure what this strange woman's intentions were, but he didn't think it could hurt him.

"Well, I'll go get her. She may have heard your music and she could be right here!" The lady winked and in a flourish of her bright purple coat, she turned on her heel to leave, but was stopped.

"Thank you, um, well, I didn't exactly catch your name," he blurted out, hoping to catch her before she left.

"Oh, you can just call me Maggie. I don't like titles, they make me feel old," she laughed. "I live over in the King James flats over there," she motioned to her right down the street. "My number is 7. You can visit whenever you would like to."

"O.K., well, thank you, Maggie," he replied and let out a nervous chuckle, still completely befuddled by the older woman's actions.

"Oh, you're welcome. Now I'll be on my wayཀ I'll be back in about a half hour with or without the girlཀ"

Ginny watched as Maggie went back to the bench they sat on. She saw Maggie's confused look as she realized that Ginny left. Maggie soon left, walking quickly towards her flat.

This can't be happening, she told herself. It seemed so surreal. She wanted the Purple Lady, or Maggie as she recently found out her name, to find her, but at the same time, she knew that if she was found she would have to be with Matthew, something she couldn't and didn't want to do. Remembering his name brought back a memory she had long forgot until know. It was before everything had happened, before she lost her family.

_Ginny had just escaped the family reunion and was on a nice long bike ride to see her muggle boyfriend, Matthew. She was in a very happy mood because she had escaped unnoticed, something that rarely happened ever since she started going out with Matthew. Her mother and father always kept an eye on her, afraid that he would find out about their lifestyle that was so different from his. He knew that she lived about a mile away from him, so he gave her his extra bike so she could come over more often. She told him that she wasn't allowed to have boys over her house in attempt to prevent him from seeing that she was definitely anything but a normal girl. The bike, of course, was a muggle object her father became completely obsessed with, causing him to give complete approval of this new boyfriend. _

_When she had found out that he knew where she lived, she almost fainted because she was embarrassed about him seeing The Burrow. It was a very shabby house compared to his. Apparently he had never see the actual Burrow though. Her parents had cast some small charms on the house to give the appearance of any normal muggle house in case someone happened to stumble upon their home. She thanked her parents graciously for that._

_She arrived at his house and was greeted with a warm hug. She loved his hugs more than anything for some reason. He knew exactly how to hold her. She laid the bike down on the lush green grass and followed him into the tree-house they had declared their home. He helped her inside and as soon as they were out of sight and hidden in the tree-house, he pulled her into a deep kiss which she accepted happily. She loved kissing him because every time he brushed his lips against hers she felt as though she was the only one in the world. He was such a good kisser and he knew it._

_Her tongue flicked out of her mouth and into his, searching the warm cavern and running her soft tongue over his teeth. He grabbed her tightly and pulled her into his embrace as he let his tongue glide into her mouth as she had done a little before. She let out a quiet moan as his cool hand found its way to the waist of her jeans and teased her by running his fingers along the edge. Ginny kept kissing him as she mirrored his actions, he emitted a slight gasp in return. The kiss deepened and became more passionate. Ginny now straddled him and he was taking off her shirt. Becoming aware and alert to the situation she was in, she blushed a deep red and stopped. She had gone far with boys before, but with him it seemed almost awkward, even though it seemed as if they both knew exactly what they were doing. Afraid that things would go any further, Ginny pulled her shirt back on, gave Matthew a nice peck, and got off him. _

_They pulled away and sat down on the bean bags, as he called them, that were placed in the house for seating purposes. The chatted about how their lives were and random stuff that only Ginny and Matt could come up with together. Matthew had been staring at Ginny for a while in a way that she had never seen before, and it didn't bother her very much. She had seen the look in his eyes before. It was the way that Ron stared at Hermione when she didn't know he was looking. She felt butterflies in her stomach, but continued the story she was telling._

_Suddenly, he stood up and offered her his hand. She held hers up and stared at him in with a very confused look on her face. He saw this and laughed at her cuteness. He gave her a quick peck on her cheek and looked deeply into her eyes. She had never been looked at like that before and the familiar red blush began to crawl across her face. He cradled her cheek in his hand and said "Ginny, I want you to know that I love you, I really do."_

_Ginny was shocked, no one had every said that they loved her before. She had many boyfriends, but nothing ever got so serious like this. Before she knew what she was doing, she said it back to him. She wasn't sure if she meant it or not, but she thought it was the right thing to do. She would be going off to school soon anyways, so she figured it would be okay. _

_That night, she almost gave herself to him._

_Matthew went to give her one last kiss before she had to go because time seemed to fly right by them while they were talking. His mother called out to them telling the love birds that Ginny had to go home now because it was going to be dark soon. They gave another good-bye kiss and Ginny descended from the tree-house, leaving the happiest man in the world behind._

_She was half way home when the bike hit a sharp stone and the front tire went flat. She figured that the bike was now useless, so she dismounted and began to walk the rest of the way. Even though it was almost dark, she somehow felt safe._

Ginny ran as far as she could. She had no direction of where to go, but she knew that she had to run away. She ran the opposite way of the Maggie with hopes that she wouldn't be seen. Maybe another day Maggie could help her find Draco. She seemed eager enough to help Matthew, so maybe she would be willing to help Ginny.

Before she left, she caught one last glimpse of Matthew. His shaggy brown hair stuck out from his blue beanie. His eyes were the same creamy brown she had remembered looking into so long ago. Even though he was quite a site for sore eyes, she could not even think of comparing him to Draco. There was no one made for her but Draco, and she had to find him.

She was determined to.


	3. If Only Life Was a Walk in the Park

A/N: Same as before. I hope it doesn't seem like it's going too slow..but don't worry...we'll find out some stuff about Draco within the next two chapters...um I mean... no? Thank you my dear reviewer **Alexandria J. Malfoy**!... (I heart reviews, but if you don't want to leave one...I guess it's okay :big sad face:)

P.S. - Sorry about the delay, I just got my wisdom teeth pulled out. I've been sort of just laying around and stuff...I wasn't exactly in any state of mind to write something comprehendible. This one's kinda long though...I hope it makes up!

Disclaimer: You know the drill.

Finding Hope Again

_Chapter Three_: _If Only Life Was a Walk in the Park_

Ginny kept running until she had managed to come across her alley and her box. She was finally away from him, away from Maggie, and away from a life she couldn't return to. The silence was almost eerie. The voice in her head made occasional comments, but she ignored them. She had ran so hard that she was actually somewhat warm for once. Sweat gathered on her brow and she used her dirty shirt sleeve to wipe it away. She decided that Maggie had already stopped by here or had not yet arrived, but seeing as she was safe for now, Ginny decided to give her sore feet and legs a well-deserved rest.

She ducked inside her box and flipped it over so it could cover her whole body. Being in this position reminded her of a time back at the Burrow when she and her brothers would play hide-and-seek, a muggle game her father taught them.

_It was a warm June night in the Burrow, and a four-year-old Ginny Weasley was playing a nice muggle game of hide-and-seek with her brothers Ron, Fred, and George after a hearty dinner. Ron was 'It' and was almost finished counting to fifty while Ginny struggled to find a good hiding place. Fred and George were well-hid and had been so for a good deal of the fifty seconds they had before Ron was to come find them. She silently crept past her counting brother._

"_THIRTY-FIVE...THIRTY-SEVEN...oh fiddlesticks, I mean, uh, THIRTY-SIX..." Ron screamed at the top of his lungs, slightly stumbling over his counting. His high-pitched five-year-old voice was on the edge of giving his tired mother a head ache, but she did not complain one bit._

_Rushing, Ginny climbed the stairs up to her room. Realizing that hiding under her bed would be too obvious, she walked out of her room and climbed up a small stairway that led to the attic. She pushed on the somewhat small entryway, causing the door to creak slightly. She walked in, sneaking quietly across the loose floorboards that were bound to creak. She looked around her and found that she could hide behind a dusty old chair. She walked over to her new hiding place, but was shocked to see that Fred was already there._

"_Go away Gin, this is my hiding spot! " he whispered harshly._

_Downtrodden, she walked out of the attic, making as much noise as she could in hopes that Ron would notice someone was hiding in the attic. She walked back to her room, and could faintly hear Ron counting._

"_FORTY-SEVEN.." Ron paused momentarily. "Hey mum, what comes after forty-seven?" She giggled at her brother's difficulty counting. Even she knew that fifty-two came after forty-seven, or was it seventy-two? Either way, she wasn't counting, nor was she allowed to for that matter. Her brothers said she didn't know enough numbers yet. On the other hand, she thought that she was more competent than her brother Ron by far._

_Realizing that he was almost at fifty, she dashed for her parents' room and jumped in the first thing she saw- an empty trunk in front of her parents' large comfy bed. The lid accidently closed from the impact of Ginny's small body squeezing into the somewhat large trunk that smelled like mothballs._

_She sat quiet as a doorknob for quite a bit of time, until she realized that it had been so long that Ron probably found Fred or George by now. She quietly giggled at her scheme to get Fred found first. She pushed on the lid of the trunk, but it wouldn't budge. She pushed harder and harder until she realized that she was not going to be able to get out. She let out a scream of anger and fear and cried to herself for a while. When she had finished crying, she found that it was getting difficult to breathe. She began to feel light-headed and dizzy, not to mention she had to use the W.C. very badly._

_Meanwhile, a very angry Molly Weasley was scolding her three boys, Ron, Fred, and George, because they had not yet found Ginny and it had been nearly twenty minutes since Ron stopped counting._

"_Ronald! " she screamed, "Where is your sister?"_

"_I don't know mum, she's still hiding," he replied, his voice quivering. _

"_Oh dear," Molly sighed. "I suppose I'll have to look for her myself." _

_Molly turned on her heel, leaving the boys to do as they please. She was only four, so it couldn't be that hard to find her. As she walked away, she looked at her special clock for a moment. Her heart sank and her eyes nearly fell out of their sockets when she saw that Ginny's hand was pointing to 'Mortal Peril'. _

_Immediately, she told the boys to look for Ginny as hard as they could. She pulled out her wand and began muttering spells left and right until she jumped in joy and ran up the stairs to her room. She went to the trunk and muttered a hopeful-sounding "Alohamora" at the lock, not bothering to go get the key. She opened the lid and was delighted to see Ginny._

_Ginny looked up, her vision blurry, and smiled as she saw her mother reach down and pick her up from out of the trunk. She had never been so happy to see her mother, she thought as she took a deep breath of fresh air. Snuggling into her mother's arms, Ginny heard her crying._

"_I'm sorry mum," she said quietly. "I didn't mean to make you cry."_

_Molly stared at her daughter and smiled despite the tears in her eyes, confusing Ginny. She hugged Ginny closer to her and then walked back downstairs. She put Ginny on the comfy couch in the living room, and them began to talk to her daughter._

"_Oh Ginny dear, my darling baby," her mother cooed before she left. "I'm not crying because I'm sad, I'm crying because I'm so happy that you're O.K." She engulfed Ginny's tiny body in a huge hug, and then left to go make a nice cup of hot chocolate for her darling Ginny._

Reluctantly out of her reverie, Ginny immersed herself in the reality of her current situation. Her eyes stung as she held back the tears that the memory caused her, though she couldn't say that she disliked it. In fact, it almost brought a smile to her face. She missed her mother, her brothers, and everyone that was now gone. She briefly wondered if anyone still around missed her. She wondered if Draco was still alive, and if he was, if he still loved her. As soon as the thoughts came, they went away, much to Ginny's pleasure. She didn't need to be bothered with depressing thoughts at the moment.

Concentrating on what she was doing in the box, she realized that the side had a small rip from wear, just barely letting light inside her hiding spot, so she took it to her advantage and peeked out. The alley seemed empty, as usual. More snow had melted, making the dirt path muddy and wet. The occasional car sped by on the street perpendicular to the alley, but that was nothing to be alarmed about. She thought everything was going to be okay until she heard the click-clack of Maggie's purple stiletto boots echoing throughout the empty alley walls.

"Ginny? Where are you, lass?" She called out. Ginny's heartbeat raced and her breathing quickened. She tried to stay quiet and immobile while Maggie searched for her. Maggie saw a nearby box similar to Ginny's and looked inside, but found no one to her dismay. She continued looking behind trash cans and in other boxes.

"Ginny? Are you here?" She looked in another box. "I need to ask you something, Ginny. Please come out! " Ginny could sense the exasperation in Maggie's voice. Ginny stayed there, denying Maggie's numerous requests to show herself. She suddenly didn't like this Maggie lady, but she was somehow drawn to her, and curiosity would eventually get the best of Ginny if Maggie did not find her or leave soon.

"Oh, fine. I don't want to result to this, but I guess I'll have to." Maggie reached into her left boot and pulled out something long and mahogany colored. Ginny gasped as she realized it was a wand, or at least it greatly resembled one. Maggie muttered something that sounded like a spell, but Ginny wasn't sure. After a few minutes, a puff of purple smoke appeared in the form of an X. They way it all had happened slightly resembled how a Patronus worked.

"Oh blast it," Maggie said in a very agitated voice, "there's a blocking charm on the girl. Who would put a blocking charm on her? She's just a muggle." Maggie kicked the slush on the ground angrily as Ginny watched, completely mesmerized and in awe. Maggie, giving one last look around the alley, began pacing back and forth.

At this, Ginny was shaking with fear. What if this lady was a Death Eater? Ginny could not believe what she was witnessing. After all this time, she thought she was the only witch left. She didn't even think the Wizarding World still existed, but apparently magic was still alive.

Maggie took off her purple duster and laid it down on top of Ginny's box. She rolled up her sleeves and held her wand out.

"I guess it's time to do some heavy magic," she muttered to herself.

Ginny desperately tried to see if there was a mark on Maggie's left arm, hoping that she would catch a glimpse. Even if the Mark wasn't there, Ginny knew she still wouldn't come out of her hiding. She remembered the charms the Death Eaters created to hide the Mark in public. As if Maggie heard Ginny thinking, she raised her left arm to brush some wayward hair out of her face. It was unmarred, unblemished, and perfectly white.

Forgetting everything she had just thought, and out of happiness, Ginny threw the box off of her and jumped on Maggie, embracing her in a hug. Besides, Ginny figured if Maggie was a Death Eater then maybe she would be reunited with Draco, if he was still alive that is. Maggie was taken by complete surprise and thought that she was being attacked by some random muggle who had seen this little magic show. Once Ginny got down, a very flustered Maggie desperately tried to hide her wand, but Ginny told her otherwise.

"No, don'tཀ" She shouted.

"Well, you've already seen it. I guess there isn't much use now," Maggie shrugged. "I never was good at memory spells anyways." Maggie stared at Ginny with a helpless look. Ginny's face was plastered with a smile. She hadn't seen a witch or wizard in the longest time. She was positively glowing with joy.

"What are you so happy about?" A curious and slightly upset Maggie questioned the strangely happy Ginny. Maggie's frown deepened. This situation was even beginning to frighten Maggie herself, and she had been the one who had started the whole thing.

Ginny, still smiling, reached in the sleeve on her left arm with her right hand. She pulled out two pieces of a broken wand. She frowned slightly at the sight, but held it out for Maggie to see nonetheless.

"Oh my," gasped Maggie. "Now, where did you get a hold of a thing like that?"

"I'm a witch," Ginny replied, slightly stumbling over the words that flowed from her mouth. She had renounced practicing magic to herself, but she couldn't deny what she was. It was something she had to learn to be proud of again, but it didn't help that her wand had been broken for about a year. It was an accident really, how she broke it that is. One day it slipped out of her sleeve and she stepped on it while trying to hide it from the muggles on the street.

"Are you really?" Maggie asked, her eyes as big as saucers. Ginny scanned Maggie's expression, noticing that even though Maggie seemed surprised, she still wore a smirk that said otherwise.

"Yes. It's a long story, but if you want to hear I'll tell you later," Ginny replied..

"Well, this is certainly interesting. I never would have imagined." At saying that, Maggie's eyes sparkled. "I usually can sense magic, but I never sensed it around you."

"Well, there are a lot of protecting charms on me."

"Oh, really? Who put them on you?"

"I don't really want to talk about him. Maybe later." Ginny's smile suddenly turned into a deep frown. Draco put the charms on her the second day they lived together, so she would be able to live her life without worrying about Death Eaters trying to attack her. He made sure that they would be able to last forever, or until Ginny took them off herself because she was the only one who could take them off herself.

"Yes, later indeed." Maggie paused. "Now, I have a favor to ask you. You see, there's this boy who misses his long-lost love. She kind of looked like you, but -" she was cut-off.

"It is me. I was his girlfriend," Ginny whispered. "But, you see, I don't love him. I love someone else who I need to find."

"Are you sure? He seemed pretty depressed over your absence, which I take it has something to do with the Final War. This makes more sense now I suppose."

"Yes, you're right. I don't love him like that anymore, Maggie. I love someone else."

"He was good at singing, you must admit," said Maggie, abruptly changing the subject.

"Yes, he was."

"Don't you want to see him once more?"

"Not really."

"Just to tell him you're still alive?"

"That's alright, Maggie."

"To ease his aching mind? He seemed so pained, Ginny. Just for closure." Maggie stared at her intensely, her eyes beckoning Ginny to give in and go see Matthew.

Ginny gave her a wary glance. "I'm sure he needs it," said Maggie in a very sing-song voice, something Ginny had never heard before. She kept thinking about it and eventually gave in to Maggie's pleading eyes.

"Fine. Let's go." Ginny began to head back to the park.

"Wait just a second there," Maggie grabbed Ginny's arm, "we need to clean you up. "

"I suppose you're right." Ginny was silent for a moment. "How could I have survived this long? I barely eat anything, and what I do eat can't even be considered food. I haven't had a shower in over a month, unless you count the numerous slush storms I tried to take advantage of, but I don't recommend that. Maggie, what am I going to do? I must look a mess." Ginny ranted and rambled about her awful appearance. Though she complained rather childishly, every bit was true, and not exaggerated. Maggie knew this and immediately pitied the girl. Here she had lived such a wonderful life, and she had seen Ginny everyday for the past year, but had not helped her.

Well, she helped her in some ways. Occasionally she would put a loaf of bread and some cheese next to Ginny's box before Ginny woke up in the morning, but not nearly enough to live on. However, miraculously, Ginny had lived.

"Ginny, don't worry," said Maggie as she wiped away the tears that flew down Ginny's face. "I'm a witch remember. I know you are too, but my wand is in good shape."

Ginny smiled slightly. But it was replaced with a grimace. "Maggie? Do you really think that magic will help me?"

"I'll try my best."

"O.K."

Maggie then started muttering spells at full speed. Ginny then noticed how dirty she had been.

Her hair was so greasy that it hung limply and was matted down, clinging to her head. Her shirt looked like a puke green and had dirt and grass stains all over, even though it had been a very light blue originally. Her jeans that were worn, ripped, and faded, not to mention one would not even be able to tell they were jeans, for their nice dark blue color was hidden by all the dirt and grime they had accumulated. The thin duster she was wearing had holes and rips on it. Some kind of mold was beginning to form inside the left pocket, and the right one had been ripped off. Ginny's under garments were not even worth mentioning as they had practically unraveled into nothing. Looking at her clothes, Maggie wondered how she could have survived the harsh winter. This girl was especially lucky.

After whispering a few more spells and transfiguring nearby objects into articles of clothing, Ginny's whole outfit changed drastically. Her once disgusting shirt had turned into a nice warm green sweater. Her once grimy jeans were restored to a pair of clean light blue jeans that slightly clung to Ginny's skin-and-bone figure. Ginny felt much better and more confident when she realized that she was wearing new, or at least mended under garments. Her ripped and worn duster transformed into a very warm and good-quality charcoal pea coat. A nice grey wool winter hat appeared over her now clean long red hair, and matching gloves appeared on her small cold hands.

While lowering her gaze to conjure shoes on Ginny's feet, she noticed that the poor girl's toes had a very bad case of frostbite. Tapping into her Mediwitch skills, Maggie said a fairly easy spell that immediately cured all of Ginny's frostbite and rejuvenated the once infected parts of Ginny's body. Then, Maggie figured that a nice pair of nearly knee-length black boots were appropriate, so she tried her best to form them.

Ginny's skin was the grandest improvement. Before Maggie had cleaned it, it was almost permanently tinted a dirt color, but not as dark. Her freckles weren't even visible through the filth that coated her face. It was amazing that people didn't stare. She was completely filthy. In the midst of it all, Ginny had indeed sprouted a small bout of acne, but considering Maggie was a Mediwitch before the war, she cleared it in a jiffy.

Once Maggie declared Ginny clean, they rushed to the park. Ginny wanted to see how she looked, but Maggie said that it would have to wait because the band would be packing up by now, and Maggie didn't want to miss Matthew. Running, Maggie had to put an enforcement charm on her heels to make sure they wouldn't break. Stilettos weren't made for running.

They reached the park a whole ten minutes late, but Ginny's old flame was still vigilantly waiting. The band members had packed up about twenty minutes ago and were currently drinking hot cocoa at the café across the street. Thinking of the hot cocoa made Ginny hungry which upset her because she had just blocked the hunger feeling away earlier. Things were too important to worry about being hungry, she deducted, and tried to put on a strong front. She looked over to the gazebo and saw him, sitting there with a guitar, making up random tunes that were bound to turn into beautiful songs one day. The slightly familiar image swept her away into the memory of the day she first met him.

_The partially-cloudy August day could not have been anymore boring than it already was. Ginny had been home from Hogwarts for a while now, and she decided that about now would be the best time to go back. At least it would only be a few weeks until she did though because the boredom was really getting to her. She looked forward to her sixteenth birthday on the eleventh, but it was still a good ten days away. Harry and Hermione would come and visit in a week if they were able to, but other than that there was nothing to really look forward to. Times were troubled and safety was top-priority, especially for Harry Potter._

_She wandered down the dirt path, kicking stones occasionally. She let her mind wander as to what the next year would be like. She knew she was quite popular at Hogwarts, but she had a weird feeling inside that she wouldn't find someone she could love during the coming year. She had already dated Michael Corner during her fourth year, Dean Thomas during her fifth year, and then at the end of her fifth year she and Harry gave it a whirl. That didn't work out of course, and they broke up during Dumbledore's funeral. She understood though, Harry had bigger problems to deal with, and she could just make things harder. They would never get back together though, and she knew for he had told her in a letter he sent her in late June. Things were just too difficult._

_As she strolled down the path, she was shaken from her thoughts when she heard someone, most likely a rowdy boy, screaming at her to get out of the way. Shocked, she looked up from the rock she was staring at on the ground and jumped to her left just in time to see a group of about three teenage boys zoom past her on bicycles. After they seemed to be gone, she sat down on a large log near the bridge over the Otter River and stared at the sky, trying to get lost in her thoughts again. _

_While thinking about her classes, she heard the familiar sound of a bike coming her way. She didn't bother to look until she felt someone tap her shoulder. She looked up, slightly surprised, to see a boy with a grin on his face and a helmet in his hand waving at her. _

"_Hey," he started, slightly out-of-breath, "I'm sorry about before. My friends and I were having a bike race, and we didn't want to run you over." He chuckled lightly, waiting for her response._

"_Oh," Ginny said, unsure of how to respond, "okay." There was an awkward silence as they stared at each other. He was a very attractive boy, and she seemed to almost fall into his gorgeous eyes. _

"_Do you mind if I sit down?" he said, motioning to the log she was sitting on._

"_Go for it," she replied with a bright smile. He sat down and looked as though he was going to talk, but every time he started, he closed his mouth. Ginny raised her eyebrow slightly and smiled in amusement. She decided to take matters in her own hands._

"_I'm Ginny," she said brightly while extending her arm. "What's your name?"_

"_My name's Matthew, but you can call me Matt for short." She watched him as he tried talking again, but failed. She was about to say something, but finally, he spoke up. "I'm new to this part of Ottery St. Catchpole. My family just moved in July."_

"_That's interesting," Ginny said. She had never seen this boy at Hogwarts, so she wasn't sure if he was magical or not. He did just move here, so maybe he would transfer schools. Ginny pondered his magical possibilities and a comfortable silence ensued._

"_Do you like pancakes?" he asked, with hope in his eyes. Ginny was slightly befuddled by his random question and was not sure what to say. _

"_Who doesn't?"_

"_Well, I was thinking about making some back home, so if you would like to join me in my pancake escapade, I would be thoroughly grateful."_

"_I would love to, but why would you be so grateful?"_

"_Well, who wouldn't be thankful if they had such a beautiful girl in their prescence?"_

_And with that last line, he had Ginny. She was always one who'd melt for anyone who could talk their way into her heart. She was a sucker for sweet talkers, one might say. They made their way back to his flat, only a few houses beyond the bridge, and ate sweet chocolate chip pancakes while Matthew would occasionally play guitar. A week later, they began their relationship that was put on pause for Ginny's school year. Surprisingly, Matthew attended a boarding school also, making the transition something truly inevitable. The next summer they immediately began their relationship again, as if they had never taken a break._

He looked just as she remembered him, but had a more defined jaw-line and chiseled cheek-bones. His brown hair looked as though he hadn't even brushed it, but it's shagginess and messiness worked for him. It was slightly mussed more than usual from the winter wind, and it seemed a bit longer than she had last remembered. She couldn't blame him for growing his hair a little though, it gave him a very sexy edge. His skin was slightly tanned since the last she saw him. His hands were calloused and strong-looking. Ginny remembered when those hands would massage her back over the summer when she felt stressed about her NEWTS and the events going on in the Wizarding World, even though she told him it was a problem in the family she didn't want to discuss.

"Hello lad!" she shouted in attempt to get his attention.

He first looked up and saw Maggie - purple and all.

"Thank you, Mag-" he stopped mid-sentence. He had seen Ginny.

"Hello Matthew," Ginny solemnly whispered. She was immediately engulfed in a hug by him. He pulled away and looked into her eyes.

She felt nothing that she used to feel when he hugged her. She felt sorry for wishing that it was Draco's embrace, not Matthew's. He looked at her and stared into her eyes, and she felt nothing. He was just another person to her, but she cared for him. For the first time since she ran, she had cared for another human being. One couldn't blame her for caring though, especially because of what she saw in him.

He had the saddest brown eyes. They were full of love, but she saw right past that - into the hurt and pain that he experienced while she was gone. He spoke. A low, hurt, yet wonderful voice.

"Where have you been?" He asked, his voice strained. Ginny could tell he was holding back tears.

Seeing as this was the best place to intervene, Maggie handed Ginny a slip of paper. "Here, Ginny. I'll leave you two to talk." Maggie walked away and left Ginny to fend for herself.

"Matt," she paused for a moment, "it's a long story."

"I don't mind. I've been dying to live this day since the moment I realized you were gone, Ginny." He looked her dead on in the eye, but she couldn't bear being under his gaze.

"It's cold out here," she replied, avoiding his gaze as much as she could.

"That's O.K."

"No, Matt, I don't think you're getting my point. It's a long story, and I don't want to tell it out in the cold." A smile played on her lips. She still couldn't believe that she was seeing someone from so long ago in her past. She wondered if he would noticed how much she's changed.

"Well then how about we go into the diner. I'll buy you something to eat." He grabbed her hand and smiled one of those goofy boyish smiles that used to melt her heart before.

"Matt, you don't have to do that." Ginny then muttered to herself, "not after what I'm going to tell you."

"What was that last part?"

"You may hear something you don't want to. You don't have to buy me anything." She let go of his hand and stared at the ground. She hated breaking hearts. It was something she was always put on the spot to do though. It was as if once boys got a taste of her, they could never let her go. She was the one who usually ended the relationships, and it wasn't something she was proud of.

"Well, I feel as though I have to. I mean, no offense, but you look like you're all skin and bones!"

Ginny did have to admit that not eating healthily did take a toll on her body. Well, it was more-so the not eating at all part that had given her the appearance she had. Her shoulder blades were visible through her shirt when she would move in a special way, and her stomach had slightly sunken in. Her chest had become relatively flat, and her period had stopped. She was thankful for that though, there was no way to care for it because she did not have the magic or the funds for supplies. In addition to all of this, her face thinned, giving her a colder appearance than the warm glowing one she portrayed before.

She shrugged and allowed him to lead her into the diner and order her something to eat. When they had finished eating and were enjoying a nice warm cup of hot chocolate, Ginny decided to tell Matt a non-magic version of the story. She told him that her family had been murdered and the house was set on fire. She was kidnaped and when she was finally free, she had lived on the street. She had no one to go to, and just by chance she had made friends with Maggie. She even managed to squeeze a few tears out to make it more believeable.

"Oh, my Ginny!" exclaimed Matt, shocked. "I had no idea."

"I know Matt, and there's something else I have to tell you."

"O.K., shoot." He grabbed her hand in a sign of support.

Ginny pulled her hand away, took a deep breath, and let it go slowly before beginning. "Well, when I was kidnaped, there was another boy my age there too. He had also been taken. It was some kind of plot to hurt many different families. Well, we were together for quite a while and we escaped together. But they got him back."

"What are you trying to say, Gin?" She cringed at the nick name that Draco, not Matthew, had used to call her.

"Well, you see," she whispered in a barely audible voice, "I love him. With all my heart." A few tears slipped down her flushed cheeks.

Matthew looked crestfallen. His eyes darkened to a almost black color. "I've been looking for you for the longest time, and you've been getting it on with some guy you met while you were kidnaped," his voice quivered in a low, almost dangerous tone. "Did you ever even thing of me? Did you think about what we had?" He knew that he was bound to hurt her feelings with his words, but suddenly he didn't care. The pain he was in, that she was putting him through, was worse than anything he had experience before. He didn't know why he loved her so much, and he didn't know why he looked for her so desperately, but he did.

"No, Matt. I love him. Please try to understand." Ginny was now crying freely. She did not want things to work out this way.

"Oh really? And how was I supposed to know? Huh? You escaped from your kidnapers and went on with life thinking about your lover guy who is probably off with some other girl right now. Do you even know where he is?" The look in Matthew's eyes was deadly, and struck fear into Ginny's body. She didn't know what would happen, nor did she want to find out.

"Matt, please, just let me explain." Ginny was desperate now.

"Fine. You explain and I will listen. Tell me." There was no sympathy in his eyes. All Ginny saw was pain and anger, and she had caused it all.

"I really was kidnaped, Matt," she cringed at the lie, but she had to do it. "But I fell in love with him. I really am still in love with him. I've been living on the streets for so long, but I spent so much time with him. I'm sorry, but my welfare came before you. Could you just understand that?"

"You love him?" He knew the answer, but just couldn't believe it.

"Yes. With all of my heart."

"Do you know where he is?"

"No. They found him and took him again."

"What about me?" He wanted her back so badly, and now that she was so close, he could barely resist kissing her with all of the pent-up passion he held inside.

"Matt, it's hard to say. I care about you, but I'm not in love with you."

"So you love me like a brother?"

"I guess. In that sense..."She was unsure of how she felt about him altogether, but it was the closest thing as to how she felt towards him at the moment.

"This will take some time for me to get used to."

"I'll bet."

"I want to be your friend though."

"I want to be yours too."

There was a comfortable silence around them as they finished their drink.

"Do you have anywhere to stay?" Matt asked.

"No, I've been living in an alley, actually," Ginny blushed.

"Well, you could stay in my apartment with me if you'd like." It hurt him to know that she hadn't been living in conditions that everyone needs. He wondered how she had survived on the streets for so long.

"No I think I'll be O.K. for now." But deep inside, she knew that she had to find shelter. It seemed as though the winter would last forever. But she didn't trust Matt like she used to. It had been about four years since she last saw him, and frankly, she didn't trust him enough yet. She was even puzzled by the fact that he still had such strong feelings for her. What they had was not something that would have lasted forever. The look in his eyes she saw before didn't help her trust him anyways. It was filled with such a pure form of pain and anger.

"Well," Matt gave her a skeptical look, "here's my address if you ever need a place to stay." He have her a card that looked remarkably like a business card and Ginny took it.

Yet thoughts ran through her head. 'Does he keep these handy and give any girl these cards?' 'Why does he have a business card for his address.'

Her thoughts must have appeared on her face because Matt knew what she was thinking "I'm trying to get my band somewhere, and, well, you never know when you're gonna need to give it to a record producer."

"Oh, well good luck with that," Ginny said in attempt to give some sense of happiness towards him.

He paid the bill for the meal, as he said he would, and he and his band finished packing up and left. Ginny sat there for a while and contemplated what she would do next. She decided she would leave and shoved her hands into her pockets. Then, she noticed the letter that Maggie left her while she was with Matthew.

She walked a ways away from the diner and pushed her back up against a brick wall. Taking a deep breath, she unfolded the letter .

It read:

Dear Ginny,

I know you've been living on the streets for quite some time, so I decided that you could board with me. My penthouse has more than enough room.

Also, I have many things to tell you. And I am sure that you have plenty to tell me.

Here's my address:

7 Brooke Road

London, England

Kind James Flats

I know you know where this is. Across from your alley there is a bakery store, and next to the store is the building.

Sincerely,

Maggie W.

Deciding this was the best place to stay tonight, she set out on the somewhat long walk ahead. She knew that it was across form her alley and did not need the explanation from the note, but it was dark and she couldn't see very well. She cautiously followed the way back to her alley, and decided that she would continue her way to Maggie's from there. She kept walking with her head bowed, staring at the ground.

Thinking back on the small meeting with her ex from so long ago, she remembered how the sadness and anger in his eyes were unbearable to witness. She had never seen him so angry before, even though she had angered him accidentally in the past, like the one time she forgot their anniversary. It was only a month, and she hadn't paid so much attention to it. Also, once she was an hour late to his house because she and her family were at Diagon Alley for longer than expected. He was upset, but she didn't see the anger burning in his eyes as she had just witnessed. She figured that he had just changed over time and the search got to him, making his emotions stronger.

Ginny had approached her alley and was walking through it comfortably when she tripped over her box. She cursed slightly at herself. She should have known it was there for she knew this alley like the back of her own hand, but it had probably been thrown to the center of the alley when Maggie was looking for Ginny. She was almost at the end of the alley, almost directly across from the bakery that stood next to King James Flats, when she was sharply and roughly grabbed from behind and shoved up against a wall.

Her head smacked the brick wall with a thud, but the figure holding her there showed no sympathy to her whimpers. The figure adjusted so that it hand a firm grip on her waist and held her against the wall with his body. The figure was dressed all in black and was masked, so she could not figure out who had attacked her, but from feeling the person's physique, she was sure it was a man. Fear coursed through her body. She attempted to wriggle free, but her attacker would not let go.

"Oh Ginny," whispered the masked figure in a low voice that sounded almost familiar. "You have no idea what you've done to me." He chuckled almost evily.

Before she could protest to what the man attacking her was insinuating she her him muttering silently. Suddenly, she felt an immense pain on the right side of her head. She tried to struggle against his strong hold, but it was useless. She felt as though she couldn't stand upright, and became almost limp while she stood. She screamed out for help with the last energy she had before she slipped into a black darkness.


	4. Try to Remember

A/N: Hehe...Hoped you hearted that cliffie! I now have only two reviewers, but that's better than none. So thank you very much **Alexandria J. Malfoy **and** shelley**!(shh.. No one tell them that they're wrong...) Mucho amor!

Disclaimer: Well, you see, if I did own Harry Potter and everything about it... I certainly wouldn't be writing it on here. I do own the song at the end though, Maggie, and Matthew.

Finding Hope Again

_Chapter Four: Try to Remember_

In a bland but quaint room in a small apartment building with a view of a busy city, a girl with vibrant red hair lay unconscious, and a worried boy sat in a chair, vigilant at her side, with hopes that she would wake. It had been hours since Ginny fell unconscious in her deserted alley, and at the moment she showed no sign of improvement despite all the care that Matthew had given her. He had attended three years of Med School when he decided that music was his true passion, so he had enough skills and knowledge to help her, but her state was not natural and led him to believe that she was in a coma of some sort.

She had a strong pulse, and showed no sign of respiratory problems, yet she would not wake. He tried smelling salts numerous times, tapping her shoulder, tickling her feet, and the unconventional method of dumping water on her and succeeded in accomplishing nothing but possibly making her more uncomfortable and wet. Of course, he took care of this swiftly and professionally. He was no pervert, that was for sure.

He rubbed his temples slowly, searching his mind for something to wake her up. Then, as if someone had dropped a bucket of ice cubes down his shirt, he shot up from his seat. He ran out of the room and seemed to have disappeared for quite some time when he finally returned, but not alone. He held some sort of instrument resembling a drumstick of some kind in his hand, yet it was slightly larger than a normal sized stick, and was wider also.

He set it on the bed, as if he wanted the stick to jump up and heal her itself, but of course that was not possible. He reached out as if he wanted to grab it, but would only let his fingers brush the wood. After nearly fifteen minutes of an internal battle raging inside of his mind, he grabbed the stick. It almost looked awkward in his hand, and it seemed as though he felt awkward holding it. A few moments later, he sucked in a deep breath, aimed the stick at Ginny, and with hopes that it would work he let his mind remember his childhood, the secret part of him he hid deep within his mind.

"_Ennerv-"_ whispered Matthew to the unconscious Ginny who had miraculously woken up in the middle of his incantation. She stared at him wide-eyed, confused by the scene before her.

Moments before he had begun to talk, she awoke, but kept her eyes closed in attempt to regain full function of her body. She was about to open her eyes to see where she was and to figure out why she was so warm and comfortable, a feeling so different from the way life was on the streets. Then, she had heard the beginning of the _Ennervate_ spell, an incantation used to wake people from a stunning spell, that she had learned in Hogwarts. She thought Maggie had found her, but the voice whispering the incantation was male.

She stared at Matthew in awe and fear, a combination she had never experienced before. She did not know how he could do magic, or why he was using what seemed to be a drumstick to do so. Matthew stared back at her with wide eyes and a pout. He greatly resembled a mischievous child who had been caught by an angry parent as he did something against house rules. He dropped the drumstick with such speed one would have thought it burned him and ran a hand through his thick hair as beads of sweat appeared on his brow. He had no idea how he was going to explain this to her, nor did he want to.

Despite this fact, he knew that he would have to say something. "Ginny," he started with a quiver in his voice, "I can explain."

Ginny stared at him, jaw at her chest, blinking slightly as she felt her eyes go dry, but secretly wanting to close her eyes fully and fall back into the peaceful slumber she had experienced. He better have been able to explain, and she hoped that his explanation involved a sudden urge to play the drums on her stomach while letting random words, which he did not know the meaning of, flow out of his mouth. She took a deep breath, held it momentarily as she thought of what to say in reply, but sadly found no words. Instead of the verbal approach to the situation, she used physical means and raised her eyebrow while crossing her arms over her chest.

"Look," began Matthew, "I know this must be really odd, and I don't know if I should tell you this, but I can do magic."

He spoke so fast that she barely caught on to his words, but in the back of her mind she knew that she did not want to hear them. She did not want to respond to him, but his expectant eyes told her that she had to say something. Incoherent thoughts ran through her mind at a rapid speed. Forming whatever words she could muster, she stammered out a reply.

"W-well," she stuttered, "that doesn't look like a wand."

The tables turned faster than Matthew had ever expected. She couldn't have known about wands, she was just a Muggle who he had met over summer a few years ago, and just some Muggle he had fallen in love with. He found that he was speechless, something he encountered every-so-often when faced in serious situations - something he wished wasn't his burden. He always envied fast talkers and the more confident peers of his who could talk through any situation they were faced with.

Ginny, realizing that he was not able to or would not respond, decided to take matters into her own hands. It took all of her courage to speak to him about this, but apparently he may have known more about the secrets she kept from him, even though she never dared voice them out loud in his presence. Letting some sort of second energy and confidence take over, she spoke calmly and smoothly.

"Well, wands usually don't resemble drumsticks, Matt," said Ginny very matter-of-fact manner.

Matthew, bewildered by her sudden calmness in this revealing situation, still could not find the words to explain his actions. He was slightly tempted to tell her that the whole magic thing was just a joke, and that he was going to play her stomach like a drum to get her to wake from her unconsciousness, but he decided not to dig himself in a hole deeper than the one he was in. Deciding that honesty was the best policy, he attempted a weak explanation.

"I don't know how you even know what a wand is supposed to look like, but I suppose we should save that conversation for another time," he paused for a moment, "if there is another time."

He searched for the right words to use, but it seemed at though the only thing he could say was whatever came out of his mouth when he opened it. He knew that the story was not going to be pretty, especially if she really was a witch, or at least someone who knew about magic, but he could not tend to that tender fact at the moment. The most important thing to do was to tell Ginny the whole truth, and nothing but that, even though he decided to modify it slightly and leave out the part about his drum stick. He decided the best way to continue was to avoid staring her in the eye as often as possible, thus taking up a sudden interest in the off-white carpet on the floor.

"I _can_ do magic, even though I don't think you believe me," he resumed. "In the Wizarding World, there are two different kinds of magic, one being good, and the other bad. My family originally came from here in London, but we moved to Germany when I reached the proper age to attend school. I went to Durmstrang by my parents' orders. They wanted me to be familiar with the Dark Arts. I suppose I ought to be frank with you about this, but my parents were active supporters of the Dark Lord, a master of the bad kind of magic, and I was on my way to becoming just like them."

At this, he looked up to see Ginny's expression. He stared into her eyes, but what he saw was certainly not what he expected. She was completely emotionless. Her face was an empty canvas, waiting for someone to fill it. He began to regret telling her this. Somewhere in the pit of his stomach, he knew that this history of his would alter their new found relationship, but despite his remorse, he continued.

"Then, one day, the German Ministry of Magic, the government of Wizarding Germany, found all of my father's Dark Artifacts. My father, having more than enough connections in that certain Ministry, and more than enough money, avoided going to prison. That wasn't all though, his magic, along with my mother's, was from then on monitored on a daily basis as some kind of negotiation. We were also forced to go live with the Muggles in England not only as punishment, but also in fear of being found-out by the Dark Lord. My parents still went to occasional meetings, but they were double-agents.

"We moved to Ottery St. Catchpole, and I had to attend special classes organized through the Ministry to make up for the last year of school I would miss, but they were in Germany, which is why I had to leave that year. They must have put some charm on my parents though, something illegal of sorts, because they never were quite the same. It was almost as though they enjoyed the new lifestyle of living in secrecy and with the muggles that they once thought to be a filthy nuisance to everything and everyone."

He had said it. He finally got everything off of his chest, and it felt damn good. Well, it wasn't everything. He had left many holes in the story because he did not want her to find out everything about him. He did not want her to find out that he was not always the angel he had seemed to be. He was still staring at carpet as a small piece of fuzz captured his attention. He refused to look at her, afraid of her response. He knew that she was either going to think that he was crazy, or that he was one of the most elaborate liars she had ever met, and he hoped it was neither.

Ginny, having just heard this confession from someone she once knew, was in utter shock. She never would have guessed that his family was anything but muggle. She had never found herself in a position in which she was more at a loss of words than the one she was in now. She desperately wanted to tell him that she was magical like him, but she held the words at bay. She was silent for a while as she contemplated her next move. Eventually, Matthew looked up at her with the same expectant shining eyes she had seen when he first told her that he loved her.

"I believe you," whispered Ginny. Immediately, Matthew's composure relaxed. He sat less rigid in his chair and his facial expression looked less tense. He felt as though he could pick her up and swing her around at that very moment.

He was so relieved to find that she thought he wasn't completely nutters. Looking at the digital clock on the night stand, he realized that they both should try and get some sleep. He was having a party the next night with a few prominent people in the music business that he was close with along with many of his friends, and he did not want to be tired.

"Hey Ginny," said Matthew in a calm smooth voice, "it's nearly four in the morning. I'm having a party tomorrow night, and I don't want to be tired. I think we should get some sleep." He paused, realizing that she was in his bed. He debated using the spare bedroom, but decided against it. "I'll be in the living room on the couch, just call if you need anything."

Ginny felt her eyes droop in a most unattractive manner. She had been completely and utterly exhausted since she woke up. She wanted to ask Matthew what had happened to her, but she was interrupted. Deciding to save her questions for the next day, she watched Matthew walk out of the room and muttered a silent good night that Matthew must have noticed because he responded.

Ginny snuggled into the cozy blanket and sunk into the pillows. Before drifting into a dreamless sleep, a sudden small feeling of dread and discomfort shot through her, but she was too tired to really pay any attention to it. For once, she was sleeping on what must have been the most comfortable bed in the world.

She woke to the bright sun shining through the window on the wall opposite her. She nearly jumped out of the bed due to the fact that she hadn't quite remembered where exactly she was, and the fact that she woke from her peaceful slumber due to a loud noise that sounded remotely like the slamming of a door. She sat down and took deep breaths in attempt to calm herself down. Eventually she remembered the events of the previous night. Looking down at herself, she noticed that she was not wearing the clothing that Maggie had transfigured for her, but she was wearing a white shirt a few sizes too big, and a pair of boxers. Figuring they were probably Matthew's clothes, she added the question of how she got into them to her list of questions.

She stood up and looked at the clock. It read 1:56 in bright red numbers. She was not sure if Matthew was up by then, but when she stepped closer to the door, she heard noises. There were people talking. Unsure of what to do and because of her trashy apparel, she snuck down the short hallway outside of the door, following the direction from which the noise came.

When she reached a large room with seating furniture and a table, she heard the noise at it loudest, but no one was there. She entered the room and scanned it as she turned in a circle. She saw a contraption that resembled a television, something she had learned about from her father, and had then saw at Matthew's house while they dated. Thinking about Matthew made her wonder where he was.

She called his name a few times, but when she had no response, she figured that he must have gone out for a while. He was throwing a party later, so he may have had some last minute things to go get. She let out a long sigh and sat down on a rather large blue colored couch and watched the television, slipping in and out of blurry day dreams.

Meanwhile, Matthew was out and about shopping for last minute items needed for his party, just as Ginny presumed. He was sure that he was going to get a record deal with Wizard Wreckords, the local recording company of the Wizarding World. He just had to impress them, and he was sure that the party along with a live performance from his band would help.

He was just about done and about to head home with his extra guitar strings, picks, food, and candles. He could never be completely sure that everything would go well, so he bought extras of everything. Being able to afford his lifestyle was easy to do with his inherited fortune from his parents. While walking down the street back to his flat, he saw a clothing store for girls. At first glance, he thought nothing of the party dress he saw in the window, but a sudden thought about Ginny made him back track to the entrance of the store.

He knew that Ginny had the outfit she had worn before, but this dress would look perfect on her. It was a black halter-top dress that flared out from the waist with a small black sequined flower design on the bottom right corner of the front side and lime green tulle that poked out the bottom. It seemed that it was about knee-length, but he wasn't sure where it would fall on Ginny's small body. He walked into the store and asked the first employee he saw about the dress. At first, the young woman he asked seemed confused about his interest in the dress, but when he clarified that it was for his female friend, her attitude softened.

"You wouldn't happen to know her size, would you?" she asked in a slightly nasal voice.

"No," Matthew replied, wanting to smack himself for his stupidity. He should have checked home with Ginny before he came back, but then again it would be a nice surprise.

"Well, what is her body like?" The woman named Clara, as he saw on her name tag, asked in hopes of helping him.

Matthew thought for a bit, trying to imagine Ginny in his mind. "Well, she's really tiny. I think she's one of the smallest girls I've ever seen. She's all skin and bones, you know, like the super-models from France and those places."

Clara smiled and pulled a dress from the rack and handed it to him. "This ought to fit her, but we offer free custom tailoring, so if she needs any adjustments, she should feel free to come in. If you're interested, we also have a fabulous selection of shoes. Many of them would complete the dress nicely." She motioned over to the back of the store where a few shelves of shoes were on display.

Matthew gave Clara a helpless look. He wanted to get Ginny a matching pair of shoes, but he was even more clueless as to what her size was regarding her feet. Noticing his expression, Clara walked over to the selection and took a shoe off of the display case.

"I personally recommend this pair. It's casual and comfortable, but gives the dress an artsy edge." She held the shoe up to Matthew. It was a flat bottomed black shoe remotely resembling a ballet slipper, but without the ribbon. It had a black sequin design on the toe that somewhat matched the design on the dress.

"I'll take it," said Matthew, reaching out for the shoe.

"Wait a second," replied Clara, "I think it would be best if you bought the shoe in her size."

"Oh, right," said Matthew, again wanting to smack himself for his stupidity. "I think she's a thirty-seven."

Clara rummaged through a pile of boxes until she finally found the right size and carried it over to the register. She was sure that she would see him back along with the friend of his because he was probably wrong about the shoe size. Letting the saleswoman inside of her out, she motioned to a hair ribbon that matched the lime green in the dress along with a small fake-pearl lime green necklace. Matthew bought them both. He had never shopped for a girl before, and did not know all the elements of an outfit she would buy.

Carrying a large bag with a larger receipt out the door, Matthew felt proud of himself. He was doing something nice for a girl that just broke his heart for the second time, but somehow it did not seem to bother him as much. It was as though he knew that it was bound to happen, so he detached himself from her. Despite that fact, he secretly wished his niceness would win her heart, even though the idea was far-fetched.

A few minutes later, Matthew found himself inside of his simple flat. He carefully placed the bags on the nearest table to him and went to his bedroom to see if Ginny was still sleeping, noting that he'd left the television on when he had left earlier. Peering into the room, he saw his comfortable bed, unmade with pillows thrown about, but Ginny was not anywhere in sight. He called out her name and thankfully, he heard a response from the living room area.

He found Ginny with a large box of Kellogg's Coco Pops that had once been full, but seemed to have emptied half of its contents in the time he was gone. She was watching some depressing made-for-T.V. movie and had tear streaks running down her cheeks. Apparently she had found one of the channels made for women that ran every sad and traumatic movie known to man twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

After chuckling to himself, he walked over to her, sat down, and gently placed an arm around her shoulders. She looked up at him in surprise for she had not noticed his entrance at all. She was absorbed in the story portrayed in the movie about a woman who was suffering from a disease called breast cancer and was trying to promote an awareness in the women of the world about the disease, but eventually died. She wiped away the wet streams on her cheeks and smiled at Matthew.

"Hello, Matt."

"Hey Gin, are you O.K.?"he pondered, knowing that she was fine.

"Oh, yeah, I'm just dandy," replied Ginny. "It's just that this movie is so sad."

"Well," Matthew stated, "that's what you get for watching television for women, or whatever they call it." He chuckled as he grabbed the remote and turned off the television. "Hey Ginny, I got you something while I was out." He strolled over to the table where the bag with her stuff was located.

"Matt," Ginny called, "you didn't have to get me anything."

"Well, I know the clothes you were wearing before are dirty and need to be washed, and I saw this dress and I thought you would like it."

"Really though, Matt, you shouldn't have done anything. You don't need to spend your money one me." She felt uncomfortable with his idea of getting her something. They hadn't seen each other for years, but it was as though they had picked up where they left off, except just as friends.

Her eyes widened as he pulled the dress out of its bag and displayed it to show Ginny. It was one of the cutest dresses she had ever been exposed to. She jumped off the couch and sprinted towards Matthew. A tackle followed by a bear hug ensued. Matthew was proud of himself that he had pleased Ginny. Happiness noticeably glowed from his face as he saw her same reaction to the shoes and accessories.

"Oh, Matt," sighed Ginny, "I can't believe you did this. It must have cost a fortune!"

"Ginny, I am the heir to billions of my family's fortune. Trust me, it was no problem."

Ginny eyed him warily. She loved the dress, but she felt as though she had to pay him back for the nice favor. Letting a smile play on her lips, she gave Matthew another hug.

"Fine, but I'm going to help you with this party tonight. Everything will run smoothly, and you need not worry about anything, alright?"

"That's cool, Gin," replied Matthew. He was happy that she was offering her help. He knew he would need as much help as he could get, not so much with the organizing and preparing for the party, but with his nervous emotions that were bound to surface.

He watched as she stared at the dress, touching the silky material and gushing at his kindliness. He knew that her heart belonged to another, but secretly he wished it was his. She had to have been the most amazing girl on the earth, and he did not want to be without her. If the only way he could hold onto her was by being friends, then so be it. Realizing the time, he began to unpack the groceries. Ginny followed in suit, helping him.

"What are you planning on making?" questioned Ginny.

"Well, to be honest, I was thinking of something along the lines of casual food." He continued on explaining when she quirked her eyebrow. "You know, nothing too fancy, like that French stuff at the restaurant down the street, but more like food you'd eat at a casual restaurant."

"I think I have an idea of what you're talking about," replied Ginny. "How about you get ready to greet the guests who'll be here in, what did you say?"

"They'll be here in about two and a half hours."

"Exactly. So you go, and I'll take care of the food."

It seemed as though Matthew was torn between going and taking a shower, playing some warm-ups, and relaxing, and helping Ginny make the food. He was about to say he would stay when she shoved him out of the room and into his. He shrugged and began the process of preparing himself for what could be a life-changing experience.

Meanwhile, Ginny stared at the food in front of her, trying to remember all of the recipes her mother taught her before she had...passed away.

"_Come on Ginny," said a younger looking Molly Weasley._

"_Hold on mum, I'm having trouble with my apron," replied ten year old Ginny Weasley._

"_Let me get that for you darling," said Molly as she tied the apron around her daughter's waist._

_It was her first day of cooking lessons with her mum, and Ginny was anything but excited. She desperately wanted to play with Ron and maybe her other brothers, but her mum had been planning this for weeks now._

_Molly took out some pots and pans since Ginny was not able to legally use magic, nor did she have the knowledge of spells or a wand to perform them. Cooking the muggle way was something Molly thought to be a nice way of bonding, and would most likely become handy somewhere down the road of Ginny's life._

"_Alright now, Ginny," said Molly. "Just slice it at an angle. There you go, you're doing very nicely dear."_

Ginny learned how to make nearly every different kind of finger food from her mother, and a muggle cook book her father bought her. She never really thought that muggle cooking would be useful to her, but apparently she had proved herself wrong. She saw that Matthew bought smoked trout, so she decided to make Smoked Trout Parcels. While the potatoes were on, she prepared everything else for the dish.

Once she had finished the last parcel, she refrigerated them and tried to think of another dish. She saw he had plenty of cheese and sausage, so she set some aside for Cheese and Sausage Canapés which she would serve sometime after all of the guests had arrived.

Figuring she needed a more filling dish than the appetizers she had prepared, she contemplated what she could do with the rest of the ingredients. She now had a little over an hour and half to prepare the rest of the food, and she had no idea what to make! Scanning the table full of food again, she saw what seemed to be cake mix in a bag.

"He must have thought that would suffice for dessert," she thought aloud. She placed the cake to the side and remembered that she would not have to make it until the rest of the appetizers were done.

Seeing cream cheese, she remembered a recipe her mother had taught her that seemed easy enough. She tried to think of the name, but it didn't come to her as quickly as she wanted it to. She proceeded in making cheese oriented pastry, but was stalled when she had to allow it time to chill.

She took that time to cut up some of the fruits Matthew bought and arrange them on a platter. She made a pretty design of cantaloupe, melon, watermelon, strawberries, and sprinkled blueberries on top to fill in the cracks between the different fruits. Doing all of this took longer than she thought, and the rolled cheese-filled puff pastry had probably firmed by then. She checked the stove to see if it had preheated properly, and it had. Seeing that all was in place, she placed the thing, still not remembering the name, into the oven and put the fruit in the refrigerator.

She relaxed a while until she realized that she should start making the cake now so it would be cool to frost later. Matthew hadn't bought any pre-made frosting, but she knew a recipe for a simple icing. She mixed the ingredients, and right in the middle of her cake-making escapade, the buzzer on the timer told her to take out the thing in the over. She really wished she could remember the name of it. She knew it had to do with the Blue Stilton Cheese used but she couldn't remember which part of it. She took the log out and cooled it on a rack, and she then went back to making the cake, which would eventually turn out to be a double layer chocolate frosting cake.

Seeing that she had less time than she thought she would end up with, she began to make the Cheese and Sausage Canapés. Matthew decided to make an appearance at that moment, and noticed how Ginny had used nearly everything he bought and some items from his personal food storage.

"Nice Stilton Whirls," he said while motioning to the cheese-filled puff-pastry log on the cooling rack. Right as he said that, a light bulb went off in her head. She finally knew the name of the thing she had made, and boy did it make her happy. "Gin," began Matthew again, "the party's going to start soon. You should go get ready."

Ginny looked helplessly at the new mess she had made. She really wanted to finish the last dish and then frost the cake and cut the Stilton Whirls, but then again she couldn't attend the party looking as much of a mess as she did at the moment.

"Don't worry about it Ginny, I'll take care of everything," said Matthew with a reassuring grin. "How about you go take a shower and do all that stuff that you girls do and get ready for the party?"

"Alright," replied Ginny, "but you have to make the Cheese and Sausage Canapés, take the cake out of the oven when the timer goes off, and cut the Stilton Whirls."

"That's fine, Ginny. I can do it. My mum always made those things."

She glanced at Matthew one last time and then ran over to where he had set her outfit. She placed it on his bed that had temporarily become hers and went to the bathroom located through a door in the room and took a shower. The hot water felt so nice. She was happy that she was finally able to shower. It seemed as though he had got shampoo and body wash because the bottles that screamed femininity were very different from his manly products.

She blow dried her hair when she finished her shower until it was nice and smooth. She wasn't able to get it completely straight, but it was close enough. Times like those made her happy that Hermione had taught her how to use muggle contraptions for beauty reasons. Using the ribbon, she pulled half of her hair back and tied it, and let the rest down. To get a less uptight look, she pulled a few loose strands out so they brushed the sides of her face.

She saw that she would have needed a strapless bra to wear the dress, but she then realized that she did not have quite as large breasts as she once did before, so she just put on the clean panties Maggie had transfigured for her. Apparently Matthew had done her laundry. He was appearing to be a very good friend to her, and she decided to just accept the fact that he wanted to be her friend and quit searching for ulterior motives.

She put on the dress, which she found to fit just right, but it was sort of tight in a few random places. The necklace, of course, fit nicely as it did not go down too far, but was not right up against her neck. The shoes, on the other hand, did not fit at all. It seemed as though they were a size or two too big. Not wanting to disappoint Matthew, she wore them anyways. She did not wear make up, but still had a natural glow of beauty about her.

She went to see how Matthew had done with the food, and found, to her satisfactory, that he did well. He was finishing up the last of the Canapés and the two round cakes she had made to pile on top of each other were just about done cooling. She set out the food on the serving table along with plates and utensils. Matthew brought out the Canapés after she had arranged everything, causing her to stomp her foot on the ground and make room for them.

When she had stomped her foot, Matthew noticed how big her shoes seemed to be. Feeling guilty, Matthew went to his room and grabbed the disguised wand. He muttered a spell aimed at Ginny's shoes from across the room that would hopefully help the shoes fit her small feet better. As Ginny noticed the difference, she realized that magic must have been used. The thought of magic made her ponder where her wand was, and that he must have noticed it when he washed her clothes, but she only pushed the thought away, deciding to save it for a less stressful time.

The first two guests had arrived together just as Matthew realized that he had forgot the drinks. He slipped Ginny a small shopping list with different wines and drinks for the party. He asked her to go to the beverage store across the street, and she obliged. Before she left, he handed her what seemed to be a wad of muggle dollars.

She hurriedly went to the store, handing an employee the list for him to find as she was quite clueless as to where everything was. The older-looking man produced everything she needed along with a large bag of ice. He put it into a bag after ringing up the items. He told her the price, and Ginny, realizing how confusing muggle money was, gave him the largest bill she had. He then told her that she was short, causing her to make up an excuse along the lines of "being out-of-it" and handed him another one of lesser value. He gave her change and told her to have a nice day.

Struggling, Ginny carried the bags back to the flat. When she arrived she saw that there were many people at the party already, and Matthew and his band were setting up and sound-checking for their acoustic performance of the night. She arranged the glasses and beverages on another table to the side and put the bottles and ice into a small tub Matthew told her to use.

She figured that the guests would enjoy the cake, so she prepared a quick and easy glaze to dress it with, making sure to glaze the space between the two cakes. She set it on a platter with some extra strawberries, making a nice arrangement. She turned to set the dish on the table of food, but bumped into someone and nearly dropped it. Regaining her composure, she began to apologize to whomever she had ran into.

"Oh," she sighed, "I'm so terribly sorry. You see, I was just about to set the cake out, and I wasn't paying any atten-" she was cut off.

"It's fine, really," replied the man she bumped into. "It's not your fault, I should have not even been in here, it's just that you look vaguely familiar, and I was wondering if we'd met before."

His voice seemed so familiar to Ginny, as if she had just heard it within the past week, but something about it struck fear into her mind. It was as if her subconscious was trying to tell her something it knew and she seemed to be oblivious to.

"I'm Colin Creevey." He extended his hand, but took it back as he saw that Ginny had hers full and would not be able to reciprocate the gesture.

She looked up at him wide-eyed. She had not seen anyone from her Hogwarts days since her sixth year on the train ride home for summer. She was so surprised that she almost dropped the cake yet again, but Colin steadied her. She ran into the other room and put the cake down carelessly, announcing that whomever wanted any could cut it themselves, and then returned to the kitchen.

"Colin," she whispered, barely able to keep the tears of joy at bay, "it's me, Ginny."

He looked at her, completely shocked, yet if one looked closely enough, he or she could tell that there was an almost knowing look in his eyes...along with something that slightly resembled desire.

"Oh, Ginny," he exclaimed, "everyone thought you had died. No one knew what happened to you."

"I've been living on the streets," she replied, "but it's quite a long story." She realized that because Matthew was a wizard, she would be able to tell him all of the story, the truth.

Colin placed his hand on the small of her back. "Come on then, I'll get us some drinks and we can go somewhere a bit more private," whispered Colin, pushing her slightly in the direction of the bedroom.

She watched him huddle over the drink table, taking a bit longer than necessary, but she thought nothing of it. When Colin finished, he handed her the drink with a strange facial expression. The walked over to the bedroom, and she was just about to take a sip when she heard Matthew's boisterous yelling and the closing of the front door.

"Oi, Draco! I thought you weren't going to be able to make it."

She froze on the spot, handing her drink back to Colin whom she had asked to excuse her for a while, earning her a disappointed look from her long-lost classmate. She edge closer to the door, trying to get a good look at exactly who Matthew was talking about. After one of the band members moved, she had a clear view at the new guest. She saw a pale complexion with aristocratic features, silver blonde hair, and the grey steely eyes she had fallen into so many times before. Her breathing was labored as she thought that the one person she had ever needed, the one person she had ever loved so deeply, and the one person she had lost, stood right before her, less than twenty feet away.

Matthew snapped her out of her reverie. He her shoulder to get her attention.

"Hey Gin," he called, but she was barely listening. "Look, my best mate's here and I'd really like you to meet him." His voice took on a tone of warning with his next words. "Listen though, he's a wizard too, but don't ask him too many questions about his past." Her ears began to perk at the information Matthew was feeding her. "Some other wizard put a nasty hex on him, so bad that it made him lose his memory of the past five or six years or so. I've told him some stuff, but we just have to let him regain it on his own, even though that will most likely not happen."

Ginny felt as though someone threw her heart into a pond of freezing cold ice water. He didn't remember who she was, or what they had. She looked over her shoulder and saw that Colin was not in sight, but he was not at the top of her priorities at the moment. Matthew pushed her shoulder slightly, trying to get her to walk over to where Draco stood. It took all of her energy and brain power to move her legs.

She found herself face-to-face with the only man she thought she could honestly spend the rest of her life with.

"Hello," he said, "I'm Draco Malfoy, what's your name?" He extended his arm and took her hand in his, softly brushing his lips against her knuckles.

Ginny fought back the tears to the best of her abilities and forced a wilted smile to form on her lips. "I'm Ginny Weasley," she replied.

"Well, Ginny," said Draco, "it's nice to meet you."

Ginny stared at him as he was rushed away from her by some other guests. Matthew's band was about to begin playing, but she had the sudden urge to curl into a ball and fall asleep with hopes of never waking up. Unable to fight the tears back any longer, she fled to the room which she supposed she would be staying in and flopped herself onto the bed, allowing herself to dissolve into tragic heaves of bitter tears. She would have to confront Matthew with her questions some other time.

She lulled herself to sleep, tired from her never-ending bout of tears. She heard Matthew's distant voice singing one of his original songs before her mind had released her from her pain and led her to a world of a dreamless, and painless, sleep.

"Rapture sweet, admit defeat, don't go on anymore. Crying glitter, love tastes bitter, don't go on anymore. Never glow again, I'll never glow again. Sit down and take it in, just let me breath again."


End file.
